Gale the Hedgehog: Adventures of the Dead Sea
by Sonic Phantom
Summary: Join up with Gale the Hedgehog, father of Sonic, in his prime years as he sets sail to become the greatest pirate of the entire sea. With his crewmates of Princess Aleena, Zed, and Riolu at his side, the greatest adventure of all time has begun.
1. South Island Invasion

******GALE THE HEDGEHOG: ADVENTURES OF THE DEAD SEA**

Characters © Respective Owners

Prologue: South Island Invasion

- **South Island -**

The scene opens at South Island. And on the island, we could see a party that was taking place near the docks. But this wasn't an ordinary party: It was Princess Aleena's eleventh birthday. Everyone on the island was happy as they were singing songs, drinking some rum, or having a good time eating food and drinking more rum at the same time inside the castle of South Island.

However, not everyone on the island was happy.

We move towards the island to get a closer look at everyone. We see one figure sitting on his throne chair. He turned out to be a tall crimson hedgehog with seven quills that were pointed straight from his head. He wore a flowing violet cape that had the symbol of South Island: an orange phoenix wrapped in a circle of red flames, bronze boots, that matched his eyes. And he also carried wore a bracelet that resembled mostly red shiny jewels. This was King Azreal, father to Princess Aleena. And right now, he looked kinda pissed.

"Argh...where the heck is Aleena suppose to be?" King Azreal grumbled angrily.

"Is there a problem, Your Majesty?" Lady asked. She was a violet hedgehog with green eyes. She wore white gloves, sparkling brass bracelets, blue glass heels on her feet, and she wore a thin light-blue dress that would flow easily like Azreal's cape.

"It's Aleena. She's not here for her party." King Azreal complained. "Where could she be?"

"I'm sure she's just running late, Your Majesty." Lady replied.

"I highly doubt it. She should've been here thirty minutes ago." King Azreal shook his head and smiled proudly. "Never mind. It's her loss. A king shouldn't feel bad on a special day, anyway."

But to himself, he still felt angry about Aleena. He wanted her to have a lot of responsibility, devotion, and dedication to her duties as the future Queen of South Island. However, Aleena's friends all had freedom, fun, laughter, and did anything what normal person would do. And Aleena always wanted to be like them, and not caring about her duties in the slightest. And it always angered King Azreal that his daughter never took things seriously.

For many centuries, South Island had a monarchy tradition. The firstborn child would always be known as the head king. But however for him, he had never had a son. Instead, his wife produced a girl, which was Aleena the Hedgehog. And even though he didn't expect this turn of events, he still wanted his daughter to be a responsible Queen of South Island. But much to his dismay, Aleena always tried to get away from those kind of duties, so that she wouldn't be tied down to that kind of life.

King Azreal decided to stand up from his seat and grab some rub to get that low feeling off of him. He went over to a nearby keg and popped some rum from the keg and gulp some of it down from his glass mug.

"Ah! Nothing like a good drink to wash down all your worries." King Azreal said with a grin. "It's good to be the king."

* * *

The scene shifts towards a cliff-side of South Island. We see a lone figure standing at the top of it. She was a young violet hedgehog who had short purple hair and jade eyes that gleamed brightly. She wore a gold headband on her head, a white tank-top that had a symbol that resembled South Island, blue clean slacks, and white and red tennis shoes. And she also wore a silver coin around her neck as a necklace. This was Aleena the Hedgehog: Princess of South Island.

Right now, we see Aleena with a calm smirk on her face as a calm breeze passed through her hair, letting flying across the wind.

"Ah, it feels good to get away from the guards." Aleena said happily. "There's no way anyone will find me up here."

"Are you sure about that? Because someone nearby could hear you." A familiar voice noted.

Aleena knew that voice all too well. She turned around to see another figure standing there with a small smirk on his face. He was an adult crimson chameleon with a black horn, as yellow eyes stared a few feet away from her. He wore a black training outfit, brown slacks, brown boots, and white gloves with a small symbol on the palms that resembled South Island. And the most noticeable thing about him was that he was wearing a red crystal pendant. This was Zed the Chameleon, whom was a guard in training. Aleena smiled nervously.

"Uh...hello, Zed?" Aleena greeted sheepishly. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Zed replied as he stood a few feet away from Aleena. "You do realize that the king is looking for you, right?"

"Really?" She shrugged like nothing happened. "Who knew?"

"I did." Zed answered. "He wants you to come back down to the party."

"Why? So my father could just get drunk in front of me?" Aleena asked rhetorically. "Besides, there's nothing to do down there. I'd get bored easily."

"I'm sure the King would think differently." Zed said. "Getting away from your duties is one thing, but why one run away from your own party?"

"It's just everyone having fun at one place. I don't want to hang around there and accidentally getting drunk myself!" Aleena groaned at that thought. "I want to be myself. Not some washed-up princess staying in a castle room all day long."

Zed noticed the odd expression on her face when she made that statement. "You know, you are kinda acting jumpy today."

"I'm not jumpy, I just don't want to be around everyone else." Aleena told him. "I want to live freely. Live normally, like any other person could."

"While it is a nice dream, you have to face the reality of the facts. And the reality is that you are going to be-"

"I know, I know. Be the Queen of South Island, take things seriously, blah, blah, blah." Aleena mocked, not really wanting to talk about that subject. "That's what my father wants, and I know he doesn't care about what I want."

Zed realized now that this wasn't going to be as easy as he thought it would be. She was a tough girl, that one.

As Zed was still trying of a way to convince Aleena to come with her, we see a shady cloaked figure hiding in the shadows of the trees. The figure sees it's target as it pulls out a silver bow and pulls out an arrow, trying to take aim at the princess in an attempt to kill her.

"Well, you can't just stay up here forever." Zed said to her.

"I could." Aleena smirked. "Or I could just make a run for it."

"You better not..." Zed narrowed her eyes at her. "I'm your personal guard."

"Then why don't you try and keep up with me?" Aleena challenged as she prepared to jump off the cliff-side.

Just then, they heard a loud commotion coming from near the docks. Even the cloaked stopped himself when it heard the commotion, as well.

"Invaders! Pirates have invaded South Island! We must warn King Azreal at once!" One of the guards shouted.

Up on the cliff-side, Zed quickly pulled out his binoculars and viewed the scene at a closer look from the lens. Aleena looked concerned.

"Do you see anything out there, Zed?" Aleena asked.

After getting a good view, Zed pulled down his binoculars and turned to Aleena. "Oh yeah. There are definitely pirates heading towards this island. And the flag of that ship is lead by Captian Swift."

"Him?" Aleena raised an eyebrow.

"Quick!" Zed pulled out his sword. "Find a way back to the castle! I'll go distract the pirates. Just get to safety!"

"All right. Be careful." Aleena told him as she turns the other way and runs down the cliff, while Zed jumps down from the cliff-side and heads towards the docks to prepare for the on-coming pirates.

From the shadows, the cloaked figure watched the two depart until they were out of sight. Thinking the same thing, the cloaked figure disappeared from within the shadows.

* * *

Back inside the main room of the castle, everyone was in a panic when they heard from the guards about pirates invading South Island.

"Everyone, do not panic." King Azreal pleaded calmly. "I am aware that there are pirates heading towards South Island for an invasion, but we cannot be feared by such an invasion. We will stand tall and deal with this issue. So please, do not be alarmed. Everything will be perfectly all right."

"But they could pillage our homes!" One of the male citizens complained.

"Yeah! And they might even burn them down if they feel like it!" Another citizen added. "We can't just let them get away with it!"

King Azreal did not feel panicked by the citizens reactions. "Like I said before, everything will be all right, I assure you. Just remain calm, and this situation will be sorted out easily."

Some of the citizens had doubt on their faces, but if their King was telling the truth, then I guess there was no need to worry at all.

"Sire, what do we do against these pirates?" One of the guards whispered.

"Leave that to me." King Azreal whispered back. "I got it all planned out. Do you know who flags that ship?"

"From what our scouts could see, it looks like Captain Swift will be arriving on the island shortly." The guard replied.

"Very well, then. Wait for me near the docks. I'll be there shortly." King Azreal ordered.

"Yes, your Majesty." The guard nodded before leaving the scene.

King Azreal then made a sinister smirk on his face. "Oh, Captain Swift. I promise that you our confrontation between us will be your last."

* * *

We cut the scene towards the pirate ship, as we see it heading towards South Island. The pirates on the ship looked ready as they prepared to storm the island the moment they landed at the docks.

On the ship, we could see Captain Swift, whom was the head of the pirates. He was a tall dark blue hedgehog wearing a black coat, white undershirt, a red sash across his waist, a sword brandished at his side, and black tattered boots.

There were also two extra members standing near him. One of them was a blue hedgehog, whom had six contour quills. He wore white gloves, old brown tattered boots, a dark blue coat, a black sash around his waist, a red bandanna over his head, and a simple rope bracelet around his waist. And the most noticeable thing about him was that he had wore a blue crystal pendant around his neck. This was Gale the Hedgehog, son of Captain Swift.

The other figure was a small blue dog-like creature with red eyes. It's legs and torso were colored black. It's tail was blue and also had a yellow collar. There were rounded bumps on the backs of the creature's forepaws. As for it's attire, it was wearing a red bandanna around it's head, a tan coat, and yellow bracelets around it's wrists. This was Riolu. A friend and member of Captain Swifts pirate crew.

"So, what are we going to pillage today, dad?" Gale asked with a smile.

"Anything that we find, my boy." Capt. Swift replied with a smirk. "In fact, I have a special assignment for you."

"Really?" Gale's eyes lightened with interest. "What might that be?"

"I want you and Riolu to go and sneak around the island. Once you're there, I want you to go to that castle and take anything that you see." Capt. Swift told him. "And while you are in there, us pirates will be out pillaging the village."

"But what about the guards?" Riolu asked. "They won't be happy once we reach the island."

"That's exactly what I'm after." Capt. Swift said as he turned to his two crew mates. "You're not worried about me, are you?"

"No way." Gale shook his head. "I know you too well."

"That's what I thought." Capt. Swift grinned. "Now you better get going. We'll reach the island very soon."

"Right." Gale and Riolu nodded before running off towards a nearby boat and got on. The boat dropped towards the sea as they both began to swim towards a different location towards the island.

When they were gone, Capt. Swift turned towards South Island. Indeed, they were very close towards the island now. Any minute now, they would reach the island.

* * *

Back near the docks, Zed was able to make it along with a band of the guards that had just joined him. The guards were dressed up in silver armor while brandishing swords and shields.

"Get ready for an attack, everyone!" Zed warned them.

The guards got into stance as they braced themselves for the pirates arrival. After a short minute passed, the pirate ship landed next to the docks as the pirates began to rummage down towards the wooden planks, each one brandishing swords while having grins on their faces. And the last one to drop was Capt. Swift.

Zed growled angrily as Capt. Swift walked a few steps towards the chameleon before stopping.

"Ah, Zed. It's good to see you, my boy." Capt. Swift smirked. "How's it going, rookie?"

"Don't call me, rookie!" Zed narrowed his eyes. "And don't try any pleasantries, because you are not welcome here."

"But we're pirates." Capt. Swift replied with a wave of his finger. "We take whatever we want, whenever we want, and however we want. That is the one and only rule about pirates. Now you could either try to understand that, or-"

"Enough!" Zed fired at him. "Guards, attack!"

"Hold it!" A voice commanded.

Zed and the guards turned around to see King Azreal walking towards the confrontation. Zed was confused to see him out here as the King of South Island stood at attention for the guards and Zed.

Capt. Swift smirked grew wider. "King Azreal."

"Capt. Swift." Azreal greeted casually. "Are you here to try and pillage my very own island?"

"Of course. It's what us pirates do." Capt Swift replied with a shrug. "You got a problem with that?"

"As King of South Island, I obviously have a problem with this." King Azreal answered with his eyes narrowed. "Especially when it is my daughter's birthday."

"Oh really?" Capt. Swift raised an eyebrow. "And you didn't even bother to invite me?"

"You did get one. It must've went to the wrong address." King Azreal replied sarcastically.

"Oh well, bakers can't be choosers. What can you do about it?" Capt. Swift. shrugged.

To King Azreal's eyes, he knew exactly what he had in mind for Capt. Swift. And it wasn't some invitation that he was thinking of, either. It was something very...different.

* * *

Over at the forest, Aleena was still in the woods, trying find a safe place so that she could get away from the pirates that had already arrived on the island. But she didn't look worried in the slightest. In fact, she was enjoying herself.

"Well, this is fun." Aleena said with a smirk. "Nothing like a pirate invasion to help me have some fun for myself. In fact, I wouldn't mind letting this happen everyday."

As Aleena was in her own thoughts, she suddenly bumped into something in front of her. This impact caused her to fall down on her back. The thing, or rather the person she bumped into also fell on it's back. The violet hedgehog was able to get back to her feet while soothing the pain.

"Man, did I just run into a tree?" Aleena asked herself. "I guess I wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

But unknown to her, the person she bumped into was Gale the Hedgehog. Riolu was also with him as the dog-like creature helped his friend back up.

"Are you all right, Gale?" Riolu asked.

"I'll be fine, Riolu." Gale replied as he picked up his bag that he had dropped a moment ago. "But what the heck just bumped into me?"

Riolu could do nothing but stare at what he saw, and without blinking. "Uh...Gale, you might want to look in front of you."

Gale looks up, thanks to Riolu's word. However, what he saw really took him by surprise, as did Aleena. The two hedgehogs stared at each other wide-eyed.

"Who are you?!" Aleena asked nervously. "Are you one of those pirates?"

'Who, me? Why, yes." Gale smirked triumphantly. "My name is Gale the Hedgehog: the son of my father Captain Swift!"

Aleena grew worried when she heard Gale mentioned those words. "D-Don't you dare try to hurt me! I'm a girl, you know! You can't hit a girl!"

Gale's smirk disappeared when Aleena was in a defensive stance. "Hold on, there. I do not mean any harm. Honestly."

Aleena didn't believe him, because of the pirates own nature. She looked around to find something to defend herself. That's when she noticed a bottle of rum on the ground that had not been opened yet. She quickly reached down and grabbed it by the neck area. "I'm warning you! Don't try to hurt me or you'll regret it!"

Gale reacted when he saw the bottle of rum in her hands. _"Oh crap. I must've dropped my rum without even noticing it." _The blue hedgehog moved around while Aleena threatened him with the bottle, forcing Gale to move backwards a couple of steps. "Lady, can we talk this out? I seriously am not going to hurt you!"

But Aleena still didn't believe him. And in a moment's haste, Aleena swinged the bottle of rum at Gale, smashing it over his head while the liquid from the bottle splashing all over himself along with the glasses that clattered all over the ground.

"That's not very nice..." Gale mumbled, as he stumbled backwards from the blow, and unknown to him, he was about to fall down a small hole that no one expected to be there.

"Gale, look out!" Riolu shouted.

Thinking quickly, Aleena reached out and tried to grab him by the blue crystal pendant around his neck. Unfortunately, Gale's weight was too much for Aleena, as the blue crystal pendant snapped off from around him while Gale fell to the ground before crashing.

"Gale! Hold on, I'll help you out of there!" Riolu, being worried about his friend, jumped down the whole and went to grab Gale and get him out of there.

While he did this, Aleena looked at the blue crystal pendant that she had accidentally tore off from Gale. She wondered why Gale was wearing this. Whatever the reason that was, it sure looked pretty. So she decided to hide it under the chest of her tank-top so that Gale wouldn't find it.

* * *

Back at the docks, Capt. Swift and King Azreal were still eyeing each other. Neither one had made a move since the two encountered each other.

"I am willing to give you one last warning." King Azreal told him. "You may either leave this island peacefully, or I will have no choice but to send out my military and have you killed."

Capt. Swift looked at the situation in front of him. He had to admit, the military of South Island looked ready to fight and he was outnumbered. What was he to do? Fight or flight? That was the question. The expression on his face seemed a little uncertain at this moment. "All right, fine. You win. I'll take my crew and leave at once."

"That is a wise choice." King Azreal smiled darkly. "However, you should have made that choice earlier. In fact, I have already ordered an all-out kill on you and your crew."

"What do you mean?" Capt. Swift questioned while narrowing his eyes.

His question was answered when a large sound of rotors were hovering from the sky. Everyone looked up to see a two helipcopters heading towards the island. We could see that the flying transportations were colored black. And we could see the letters G.U.N. on the sides of choppers. And inside the choppers, we could see a horde of G.U.N. soldiers all weilding sniper rifles. And all of them had their weapons aimed at Capt. Swift an their pirates.

"All right, men! Lock on and fire!" The G.U.N. soldier in charge ordered.

Without warning, the G.U.N. soldiers all fired their sniper rifles at the pirates. Each bullet made contact on every pirate, including Capt. Swift. This attack came by so unexpected, that Capt. Swift or his crew didn't have any time to retreat from the island. The G.U.N. soldiers fired a second time, killing the crew and gunning down Capt. Swift.

King Azreal walked towards the downed form of Capt. Swift. "Well, Capt. Swift. Do you have any last words?"

Capt. Swift slowly glanced his bloodshot eyes at King Azreal. He sneered at him. "Yeah...you are nothing but a corrupted mad King who thinks of no one but yourself..." With one last breath, he slowly closd his eyes and fell to the ground, where he finally died.

King Azreal narrowed his eyes a bit at the dead form of Capt. Swift. He remembered the last words that he spoke to him before dying. Corrupted mad King? Those words angered King Azreal as he lifted up Capt. Swift's dead body and threw it into the sea, leaving the pirate leader to be swept away by the ocean seas.

* * *

Over at the forest, Aleena, Gale, and Riolu had heard the gun shots coming from the harbor. Gale's eyes were salted with tears and Riolu seemed to notice this.

"Dad...he's dead!" Gale said sadly, as he saw King Azreal walk up to one of the G.U.N. soldiers and thanked him for his assistance. Gale's eyes narrowed in anger at King Azreal. "He's not going to get away with this! Not by a long shot. Not on my watch!"

"Gale, stop!" Riolu urged, trying to hold him back. "I know that your angry that Capt. Swift is gone, but we can't take on King Azreal right now. Especially when we are out-numbered." He added.

Aleena couldn't believe what she just saw. Her father ordered the G.U.N. soldiers to have the pirates killed? Why in the world would he do such a thing?

"Aleena, I found you!" Zed shouted from a distance.

Aleena turned around to see Zed the Chameleon approaching her from the forest. "Zed! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Zed added as he looked over to see Gale and Riolu looking at him. Zed quickly got into stance with his sword. "Who are you?! Are you a part of those pirates?"

"That, I am." Gale smirked. "I am Gale the Hedgehog. The greatest pirate in all of the seas." The blue hedgehog looked up and down at him. "And who the heck are you suppose to be?"

"I'm Zed. A bodyguard to Princess Aleena and I'm not going to let you harm her!" Zed noted.

Gale looked over at Aleena. "That's the princess? My, I had no idea how beautiful you looked."

"Try not to hit on me, buster." Aleena replied with her arms crossed. "I'm not interested in getting a boyfriend."

"Whoever said anything about that?" Gale asked with a shrug. "All I wanted was to compliment on how beautifully attractive you are."

Offended, Aleena swiftly kicked Gale by the shin, causing the blue hedgehog grip his leg in slight pain.

"That wasn't very nice." Gale said, before recovering from his attack.

"Enough of this!" Zed said, as he gripped his sword and prepared to strike Gale.

Thinking quickly, Gale quickly rolled underneath the attacking blade before standing up and delivering a roundhouse kick to the back of the head, knocking Zed to the ground. The red chameleon got back to his feet and prepared to strike him again. However, Gale jumped backwards from the strike before kicking Zed in the stomach with both of his feet, knocking Zed backwards onto his back. Zed, still feeling ready to fight, got back up and charged after Gale again. He swinged his sword, trying to cut Gale down to size. However, Gale was still being fast to avoid the strikes as he quickly sweeped Zed off his feet while kicking in in the sides, knocking Zed to the ground again.

Zed, feeling hurt at this moment, slowly got back to his feet. "Blast you...who the heck do you think you are?"

"Didn't I just tell you? I'm Gale the Hedgehog! The greatest pirate in all of the seas." The blue hedgehog smirked.

Zed growled angrily and prepared to strike at him again. However, Aleena stopped him.

"Zed, don't hurt him! We need him alive!" Aleena told him.

"Why? He is a part of those pirates." Zed fired at her.

"But he might-"

"Forget it, Aleena. For King Azreal, it is my duty to protect you." Zed moved Aleena to the side an prepared to strike at Gale again. However, the moment he did that, Gale and Riolu had both disappeared. "Huh? Where did he go?"

Aleena and Zed both looked around to try and find out where Gale and Riolu had disappeared too. It was like they just vanished from sight. After a moment of looking around, Zed sheathed his sword and turned back towards Aleena.

"Well, they're gone for now." Zed said. "Come on, let's head back to the castle."

Aleena, deciding that was the only idea for now, followed Zed as they both headed back to the castle.

Up in the trees, we could see the coaked shadowy figure from before as it watched both Aleena and Zed heading through the forest.

"For now, Aleena, I'll let you live. But next time, you won't be so lucky." The figure said before disappeared from within the shadows.

* * *

**Suspense brews as Gale and Riolu escape quietly after the confrontation from Princess Aleena and Zed. Where did Gale and Riolu disappear to? Who is this shadowy figure? And will Gale be able to get his revenge on King Azreal for killing his father? Find out on the next Gale the Hedgehog: Adventures of the Dead Sea!**

**Please, read and review.**


	2. Dead Stone

******GALE THE HEDGEHOG: ADVENTURES OF THE DEAD SEA**

Characters © Respective Owners

Chapter One: Dead Stone

Seven years have passed since Capt. Swift had invaded South Island. The pirate captain and his crew were ready to pillage the island of anything that was worth of value. His son, Gale, and his pirate crew member, Riolu, had snuck on the island on a different route and were confronted by Princess Aleena. While Gale tried to convince her that he meant no harm, Aleena took him out with a bottle of rum. Meanwhile, King Azreal had ordered an all-out kill on Capt. Swift and his crew. G.U.N. soldiers arrived and gunned down Capt. Swift and his entire crew. This shocked Gale and Riolu greatly, as they were also met by Zed the Chameleon, Aleena's guard in training. The two fought until Aleena came in to defend Gale. While Zed tried to get her out the way, Gale and Riolu had disappeared. Their whereabouts now are unknown.

* * *

**- South Island -**

The scene shifts towards the inside of the castle. In one of the hallways, we see Princess Aleena, whom grown up from the past seven years. Her hair grew longer, she wore a blue dress with a symbol of South Island on it. She still wore the same red and white shoes, however. She was wearing long blue gloves on her hand, and she still had the golden tiara band on her head.

Right now, Aleena was making her way through the hallways of the castle. The reason was because she did not like to stay in one place for too long. She looked at the pendant in her hand. This was the same pendant that she accidentally took from Gale seven years ago. Since that day, she had always kept it with her, but she did not show it to anyone. Not even her closest friends were able to see it.

"Greetings, Princess Aleena." A voice greeted from behind.

Quickly reacting, Aleena hid the pendant inside her chest area and turned to see Zed, whom was wearing a formal green guard uniform. The shirt also had a symbol that resembled South Island. From her reaction, she wasn't all that pleased to see him. "Oh, it's you again. What do you want, Zed?"

"I'm here by King Azreal's presence that he has found another suitor for you." Zed replied.

"ANOTHER one?" Aleena slapped her face in disbelief. "Doesn't my father know when to give up?"

"Ever since you turned eighteen a couple of weeks ago, you've been turning down suitors left and right. Each one of them your father had picked, you simply turned them down." Zed told her, as he turned around while continuing to explain. "You can't just keep turning down suitors, you know. King Azreal expects you to get married soon, and it is only a matter of time before he finds the right suitor for you. And for you Aleena, you will need to be courted if you are ever going to rule over South Island as the future queen." He turned around to talk to Aleena's face, but she was nowhere to be seen.

"Huh? Where did she go?" Zed looked around for her. From how things looked, she must've disappeared while he was talking. Zed growled angrily. "Damn it! I just HAD to turn my back."

Without wasting anytime, Zed ran off in search for Princess Aleena.

* * *

Near the beach of South Island, we see two cat fisherman busy fishing. One of them casted his reel out to sea after failing an attempt to get a fish.

"Do ya think we'll be able to catch anything, laddie?" Fisherman #1 asked.

"Never to be worried." Fisherman #2 replied with a grin. "A good fisherman knows never when to quit! That's our motto!"

"Your right, lad!" Fisherman #1 nodded with a grin of his own. "And a good fish only comes when you least expect it."

As the two fisherman constantly kept talking about good fish, one of the reels started to get a reaction. This caught the fisherman's attention.

"I caught something!" Fisherman #2 exclaimed.

"Reel it in, laddie!" Fisherman #1 told him.

Fisherman #2 nodded as he quickly reeled the rod in. But the reel did not move. The fisherman tried to pull it in with all his strength, but whatever had attached to the reel was something heavy. "This is a big one...help me pull it in!"

The other fisherman quickly set his reel to the side and helped pulled at the reel. With the two's combined strength, they were able to pull whatever they caught back towards the shore. The thing that the reel caught had risen from the surface, revealing it to be a barrel. The two fisherman pulled the barrel towards the sand and set it up straight.

"Why did I catch a barrel?" Fisherman #2 asked. "And what was it doing at sea?"

"I don't know, lad." Fisherman #1 shrugged. "But maybe there's a bucket load of fish in here."

"Oh, come now." Fisherman #2 laughed. "Why would there be fish inside of a barrel? Fish are smart enough to stay away from this."

"Are ya sure, lad? We don't know what's in there until we check it out." Fisherman #1 pointed out.

After thinking about this for a moment, he nodded in agreement. "All right. Let's take a look and see what's inside."

So the two fisherman each went for the top of the lid and began to open it. But as soon as they touched it, the lid smashed right into their faces, immediately knocking them out cold. From inside the barrel, we could see the familiar forms of Gale the Hedgehog and Riolu slowly climbing out of the barrel.

Gale hadn't changed much since the past seven years. He grew up some, but he still had the same clothes on. Riolu was the same as well. He kept the same outfit on, even though he grew a little as well.

"Ah, nothing like seeing the open world again." Gale said happily. "Are you all right, Riolu?"

Riolu stretched his arms out for a second, trying to let loose after staying inside that barrel. "I'll be fine. I just wished we could've stayed in a cave instead of some barrel."

Gale looked around to notice the fisherman had been knocked out just a moment ago. "What do you think happened to these two?"

"Hm...maybe they had caught a really big fish and fainted the moment they saw it trying to attack them." Riolu thought.

"A big fish?" Gale hummed in thought. "Perhaps it was the Lochness Monster that took them by surprise."

"But the Lochness Monster isn't real..." Riolu pointed out slowly.

"You never know, Riolu. Things could honestly appear in front of you when you least expect it." Gale reminded him.

As soon as the two were able to get a glimpse around the island, Gale and Riolu looked around to see a village that wasn't far from the castle of South Island.

"It looks like there's a village nearby." Riolu noticed.

"Then this is a perfect time to be doing some looting." Gale grinned. "You ready?"

"Oh yeah." Riolu nodded with a smirk.

The two set off towards the village. The village itself looked peaceful enough. Many of the towns were consisting of either restaurants, food shacks, a supply shop that consisted of fishing gear, and many other things that you could use to set sail at sea.

Gale and Riolu soon approached the village. The two pirates looked around at everything they could see.

"You go for the food. I'll go for the supplies." Gale quickly told him.

"Right." Riolu nodded once.

With that already settled, Gale and Riolu splitted up from each other. Each one of them went their own separate ways to stack up on the supplies. We stick with Gale, as the blue hedgehog made his way towards the fishing supply shop. Gale looked at all of what the supply had to offer. Fishing rods, bait, a fishing kit, but the most noticeable thing was that there was a large net hanging there above the counter where customers could pay for what they wanted. However, it wasn't one of the items that was for sale.

"That net should do nicely." Gale thought. He looked to see that the person in charge of the shop was a female canary in charge of the supply shop. She was currently busy counting out the change she had received during her last payment. Thinking quickly, Gale jumped up and snatched from the side and swiftly skipped across the other side and snatched the other part of the net off. Luckily, the shop owner was distracted, so she did not notice Gale taking the net from her.

Once the net was nicely wrapped like a bag, Gale quickly set off before the shop owner could figure out what just happened.

Over with Riolu, we could see the blue dog-like creature looking at the nearest food shack. It consisted of mainly meat, fruit, and some bottles of rum.

"I know Gale is going to need that." Riolu thought to himself. He saw the shop owner, whom was also busy dealing with a customer at the moment. He looked down at the bag that he had 'borrowed' earlier. Thinking that it was big enough, he set his sights on the bottle of rum.

Over with the food owner, which consisted of a brown warthog, he had given the customer his change. The customer thanked the owner before leaving with his stuff. When he was gone, the warthog owner turned around, only to see that his rum had disappeared.

"What the?!" The warthog was confused by this. "What happened to the rum? I could've sworn it was right there."

Riolu watched from the shadows of an alley as he was the one who had the rum stuffed in his bag. He quickly hoisted the bag over his shoulder before scurrying off towards the next location.

Ten minutes had passed. Gale and Riolu had joined together near the docks after 'borrowing' everything they needed. Riolu had taken a lot of food while Gale took a lot of supplies that would help them while they were at sea.

"All right, now that we've gotten everything, we need to find a ship that will help us get out of here." Gale explained.

"That sounds like an idea." Riolu nodded. "Let's hurry and find one."

As the two set off towards the entry of the docks, three guards were there, guarding the docks from any thieves that would try and steal any ships. The guards noticed them coming as Gale and Riolu stopped themselves in front of the guards.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Guard #1 asked.

"We're here to take a ship out of here." Riolu replied.

"We can't let you pass without the king's permission." Guard #2 replied.

"And knowing his majesty, there's no way he would let anyone leave without a good reason." Guard #3 added.

For a moment, it looked like they weren't going to take a ship. But knowing Gale, he always had a way with words. "Say, would you like to hear some of my greatest tales?"

Guard #1 raised an eyebrow. "Greatest tales? You mean like a fable?"

"A true fable." Gale corrected him. "One time, I had encountered the legendary Lochness Monster. It was a scary moment, I tell ya. So listen closely, because this story is VERY long." Gale took a deep breath before beginning. "So, it all began when I was just a young boy..."

* * *

Meanwhile, back up on the cliffside, we see Aleena standing there, overlooking South Island. She was in this same position seven years ago at the time Capt. Swift invaded South Island when she was eleven.

"Well, at least I'm away from Zed this time." Aleena sighed in relief. "Hopefully, he doesn't find me here like before."

"Unfortunately for you, I have found you." A familiar voice replied.

Aleena cringed to herself as she turned around to see Zed the Chameleon standing not too far away from her. "How did you find me here?"

"I know you wouldn't hang around town, so I figured you would be up here. And it looks like I was right." Zed answered.

"Damn it!" Aleena cursed to herself.

"You ran away from my explanation about why you should get married." Zed explained. "Aleena, you know that your going to have to get married to a suitor soon."

"I don't have to." Aleena huffed as she placed her hands on her hips. "My father can try all he wants, but I will never get married and settle down with anyone."

"You might not like it, but King Azreal believes that this is the best choice for you." Zed told her. "You're going to be Queen of South Island one day, and you need to learn to share the throne with your future husband."

"No, no, no, no!" Aleena shook her head repeatedly. "I will never get married! I don't care if this is what my father believes, this is not what I want!"

While Aleena was arguing over how she doesn't want to get married, we see the same mysterious figure from seven years hiding in the shadows of the forest. Seeing this as a perfect opportunity, the figure pulled out it's bow and arrow and aimed it at Aleena.

Back at the cliff side, Aleena was still arguing with Zed about how she doesn't want to get married. Zed tried to get her to come with her, but she refused. Then without warning, an arrow from out of nowhere shot Aleena in the chest. Aleena's eyes widened at what just happened to her.

"Aleena!" Zed exclaimed horrifically.

* * *

Back down near the docks, the guards were already starting to yawn as Gale was STILL talking about his fake tale about the Lochness Monster.

"So there I was, staring at the eyes of the Lochness Monster. We both had a staring contest to see who would not blink before the other did." Gale explained. "It was an intense moment, let me tell you. It felt like the world was on my shoulders. That monster had a good composure of keeping it's eyes from not blinking. I knew it was going to be tough, so I took out my rum and drank some of it down. I told the Lochness Monster that this rum would help you if it drank some of it. The Lochness Monster was reluctant to listen, so it took my bottle and drank the rest of it down. But after drinking it down, the Lochness Monster's eyes started to turn hazy until it couldn't keep it's eyes open any longer. So the Lochness Monster fell to it's death, making me the winner!" The blue hedgehog smirked while crossing his arms. "I tell you, that over-grown fish didn't stand a chance."

As the guards started to yawn loudly, one of them noticed something horrifing. "Princess Aleena! She's about to fall!"

The guards looked up to see Princess Aleena starting fall off of the cliff. Without wasting any time, the guards ran towards the cliff side to try and save Princess Aleena. Even Riolu and Gale were also worried about Aleena's safety.

"What do we do, Gale?" Riolu asked. "She could get really hurt!"

After thinking for a short moment, an idea popped into his head. "There's a shortcut I know that will get us there faster. Follow me." Gale suggested as he and Riolu ran in a different direction.

As they were running, Gale pulled out the net that he had 'borrowed' earlier from his bag. Riolu noticed this.

"What are we going to do with that?" Riolu wondered.

"Easy, Riolu." Gale smirked. "We're going to use this to save her from getting a painful headache."

After running for a short period of time, they were near the cliff side. Gale quickly rolled out the net. He told Riolu to tie each end to a nearby a tree while the blue hedgehog would wrap the other two ends to the cliff side. Unsurprisingly, it took them less than a minute until they were finished.

Back up at the cliff side, Aleena was already falling to her doom. She was unconscious, but luckily, she wasn't dead. The pendant that she kept in her chest area saved her, so that she wouldn't be killed. But that didn't mean that she was in danger of getting killed herself. Before she could hit the ground, the net that Gale and Riolu set up stopped Aleena just in time before she landed on the ground.

Gale and Riolu sighed in relief after seeing their plan was a success.

"That was close." Riolu said. "Remind me of a plan next time in case we have to save someone."

"Dully noted." Gale replied as he unhooked the net pieces, letting the net drop to the ground along with Aleena. Gale went over to the unconscious hedgehog's body and slowly pulled the arrow out from her chest. He looked closer at her chest to see what it was that saved Aleena from getting killed. That's when he saw something that took him by surprise. "What in the?"

"Gale? What is it?" Riolu asked.

"It's...my pendant." Gale replied slowly as he reached down and grabbed his pendant from Aleena. But I wonder how it got with her all those years?"

Riolu thought about it until something striked his mind. "Wait a minute! I think I know!"

"You do?" Gale asked.

Riolu nodded. "Seven years ago, we encountered Princess Aleena. You told her that we meant no harm, but she didn't believe you and knocked you out with a bottle of rum. She tried to save you from falling into a hole by grabbing onto your pendant, but it snapped off and you fell into the hole."

"Why didn't you try to get it back?" Gale questioned him.

"I was worried about you. I didn't think to go after her, so I went to help you instead." Riolu lowered his eyes a bit. "I hope you understand. I honestly didn't think about it."

Gale shook his head and smirked. "It's all right. I got my pendant back, so we can forget about what happened to it before." The blue hedgehog said as he wrapped the blue pendant back around his neck.

Riolu smiled for a moment before looking over at the unconscious body of Aleena. "Is she going to be OK?"

"Let me check." Gale said as he got on top of Aleena and examined her chest. "Hmm...no blood. It must've been my pendant that protected her from getting really hurt."

"Hey!" A voice shouted.

Gale and Riolu looked up to see that Zed had reunited with the guards from the docks. Zed noticed Gale and recognized him easily.

"It's you!" Zed exclaimed. "You're that pirate of Capt. Swift!"

"The son, to be precise." Gale corrected him with a smirk as he got up from Aleena's unconscious body and eyed Zed. "And I remember you. You were that pansy I faced seven years ago."

"You ran off and your face was never seen again." Zed reminded him. "Now that you'be shown your ugly mug here, I'm going to finish what I started and kill you by my own hands." The red chameleon pulled out his sword and pointed it at Gale.

Gale only chuckled. "Oh come now, you expect to fight me with that sword again?"

"I'm now Captain of the South Island guards. And trust me, I have gotten better." Zed noted. "Now let's get this fight started."

"Suit yourself." Gale shrugged before getting into a fighting stance.

Zed immediately charged after Gale and swinged his sword at him. But Gale was fast as usual as he jumped backwards from the blade swings of Zed. Gale retaliated by using his legs to attack his arms, but Zed himself had also gotten better, as he defended himself with his sword. Zed fought back by trying to stab Gale in the face, but Gale dodged to the side before kicking Zed in the stomach by doing a missile dropkick to the stomach, making him stagger backwards a few steps, but still maintaining a standing position.

Gale got back to his feet as he charged after the stunned Zed. The red chameleon looked up to see Gale preparing to strike at him again. Thinking quickly, Zed rolled to the side as Gale missed him, but did kick a nearby tree with full force. Gale was able to recover himself before turning to Zed again. But before he could do anything else, an unknown coconut striked him in the head hard. Gale rolled his eyes as he lowered his stance while remaining in a dizzy stance.

"That wasn't very nice..." Gale slowly said before falling to the ground on his back, where he laid there, unconscious.

Zed lowered his stance as he sheathed his sword and walked over towards the knocked out blue hedgehog. The guards surrounded Gale as well.

"What would you like us to do, sir?" Guard #1 asked.

"Take him away." Zed ordered. "I'll carry Aleena and make sure she's all right."

"But sir, what about that other pirate? The one who's with that blue hedgehog?" Guard #2 asked.

"You mean, he got away?" Zed questioned him.

"We think he might've escaped during the fight." Guard #2 thought.

Zed sighed for a moment before turning towards the castle. "Let's forget him. We got one of them, and that's good enough by me. Let's get back to the castle."

The guards hoisted Gale's body, while Zed picked up Aleena and set her on his back. Once they were set, they all headed towards the castle.

* * *

The final scene shifts towards an unknown male figure that we could not see, as it watched Zed and the guards heading back to the castle. The only thing we could see that he was wearing a pendant, similar to what Aleena and Zed wear, only it was purple.

"Those crystals...those must be the Dead Stones." He thought to himself.

* * *

**After a seven year passing, Gale has been captured and Riolu is nowhere to be seen. What will happen to Gale? Where did Riolu disappear too? And what does this man mention about these Dead Stones? Find out on the next Gale the Hedgehog: Adventures of the Dead Sea!**

**Please, read and review.**


	3. Invaded Again

******GALE THE HEDGEHOG: ADVENTURES OF THE DEAD SEA**

Characters © Respective Owners

Chapter Two: Invaded Again

**- South Island -**

The scene shifts towards the jail cell of the South Island Kingdom. Inside one of the cells, we could see Gale the Hedgehog, whom was relaxing against the wall while the leader of the interrogators, whom was a young female red cat wearing glasses and wearing a formal suit. This was Rias. She was sitting on a chair with a notepad in hand while three guards were waiting outside.

"All right, I'll ask again. What reason did you invade South Island?" Rias asked. "What were you trying to achieve?"

"Who knows?" Gale shrugged. "I don't even remember invading South Island seven years ago."

"But you were on that pirate ship, right?" Rias asked.

"No one has any proof." Gale replied as he yawned. "Personally, I think your just taking this too seriously."

Rias was able to keep a cool-head among herself before continuing. "Can you at least tell me your name?"

"It's Gale." The blue hedgehog smirked. "The greatest pirate of the sea!"

Rias raised an eyebrow. "If you are a pirate, then that means that you would have some connection with that ship."

"What ship are talking about again?" Gale asked, pretending to be confused.

Rias shook her head in disbelief. "Mr. Gale, could you please be serious?"

"I am. I'm giving you honest answers." Gale told her. "I don't remember invading South Island, and even if I did, that lazy king would have search for proof on me."

"Was there anyone with you? What about that...blue dog?" Rias asked, not exactly sure what to call Riolu.

"Blue dog?" Gale raised an eyebrow, pretending that he had no idea what she was asking him about. "You know, I've seen weird stuff before. The Lochness Monster is one thing, but a blue dog? Clearly, you've never been to Singapore."

Rias sighed again. She was really getting nowhere with this. She got up from her seat and decided to take a break from her conversation with Gale. "I think we'll have to continue this tomorrow. I...thank you for your time." She then walked towards the door and walked out of the cell.

Gale relaxed his arms at the back of his head. "That wasn't so hard, after all. Maybe I should do this more often."

* * *

The scene zoom towards the throne room. We could see Zed talking with King Azreal about the crazy events that took place today.

"And how is my daughter doing?" King Azreal asked.

"The doctors said that she will need to rest in bed for a while. The arrow did not pierce her chest, although I think the fall she had taken might've caused all this to happen in the first place." Zed answered.

King Azreal sighed, as if all of this was starting to bother him, which it was. "It's a good thing my daughter is going to be OK. But what about that hedgehog?"

"Nothing so far." Zed replied. "We're still trying to get some information out of him."

"Very well, Zed." King Azreal said straightly. "You may leave."

"Just one thing, sir." Zed raised a finger. "What do you want us to do with that blue hedgehog after we're done with him?"

"Do what you want with him. I care not." King Azreal told him. "However, make sure he disappears from South Island for good."

"As you wish, your Majesty." Zed bowed before leaving.

King Azreal relaxed back on his throne and smirked. "After tonight, all of my worries will be no more."

* * *

It was night time at South Island. Everyone around the village was getting ready to pack up their stuff and head inside for the night to rest so that they can be ready for a new day tomorrow.

As they started to pack up, a strange cloud of purple mist started to surround the island. The citizens didn't worry about, though, because they thought it was nothing important. But suddenly, the mist started blend the island deeper, making the citizens view to be blinded.

A male wolf decided to call out to make sure everyone was OK. "Are you all still there?"

"I'm fine!" A nearby female citizen shouted. "But this mist is all over the place! I can't see a blasted thing! What the devil's going on around here?"

As the citizens were in a slight state of panic, there were footsteps being made as they passed by the village, leaving the citizens completely in the dark as to what's going on. But even though they couldn't see what was making the sound, they could hear it.

"Who's there?" The female citizen asked. But she didn't get no answer. All she could hear was the footsteps passing by without even acknowledging her presence.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Another male citizen asked.

"I don't know for sure, but it looks like someone or some people are headed for the castle." As soon as she said those words, however, a horrible feeling dawned on her. "No...the castle! We're being invaded!"

When she stated those words, the citizens began to scream in panic.

"Everyone, calm down!" The male wolf called out. "We have to warn King Azreal before it's too late."

"But how?" Another male citizen asked. "We can't see through this fog!"

That only made things worse for the citizens of South Island. How were they suppose to get to the castle with this fog in the way?

* * *

Back inside the castle, Zed notices the fog as well from a window of the castle. He could see that the whole island was covered with this strange purple fog. He could tell that this was not a natural occurrence.

One of the guards, whom was also with a pack of six guards, approached Zed from behind. "Commander Zed, we have an emergency! There's been a break-in! Someone's trying to invade the castle! What do we do, sir?"

Fearing the worse to happen, Zed turned to the guard. "Get in battle formation. We meet the enemy head-on! Let's stop them before it's too late!"

"Yes, sir!" The guards saluted as they gathered up their spears and shields.

Zed pulled out his sword and called out to his men for the charge. Zed and the guards charged across the hallway to where they would meet the enemy in a battle confrontation. As the large group was running down the hall, they passed by windows, in which one of them crashes in front of the guards. We could see a group of hooded warriors, obviously disguised, as they met face to face with Zed and the Royal Guards.

Zed narrowed his eyes at the hooded warriors. "Who are you and why are you attacking the castle?"

The hooded warriors did not respond to his question. Instead, they got into a fighting stance. Zed seemed to think that these guys did not want to waste any time.

"Very well, then. Guards, attack!" Zed shouted loudly.

Zed and the guards charged after the hooded warriors, easily cutting them down before they had time to react back. Three more hooded warriors crashed through from the other windows. Thinking quickly, Zed charged after them with his sword in hand. One of the hooded figure prepared to strike him with it's bow, but Zed quickly slashed him down by the chest area. He looked over to the next hooded figure and slashed at it's lower regions, knocking it down to the ground. Zed looked over to see one more already getting it's bow out. But like before, Zed charged after him and took him down with his sword, knocking the hooded figure to the ground.

As Zed took the down the last remaining hooded figure, he looked over at the other hooded figures, whom surprisingly, got back to their feet, despite the fact that Zed took them down. How the heck could they have gotten back up so quickly?

As the guards prepared to take action, they were suddenly knocked out from behind by three more hooded warriors that appeared from out of nowhere. Once the guards were taken out, the hooded warriors turned towards Zed, whom wasn't exactly liking the odds.

But knowing Zed, he didn't care about he odds. He gripped his sword and quickly charged after the hooded figures. And much like before, Zed was quick on his swordplay. Zed slashed at the nearest hooded figure, taking him down. He turned towards the next one and slashed the next one, taking him down as well. Two more tried to get in his way, but Zed quickly slashed at the upper areas of each of them, already taking them down. Another hooded figure attempted to take him down, but Zed saw this coming, as he leaped towards the hooded figure, taking him down in the process. The last three tried to gang up on him, but Zed wouldn't let his guard down now. Zed thrusted his sword forward, taking down a hooded warrior whom landed on his back. Before the other two could react, Zed quickly sliced near their neck areas, taking down the remaining two hooded figures.

Zed took in a couple of breaths, all nine of the hooded figures were able to get back to their feet. Zed couldn't believe what he was eeing. How were these guys able to get up again? Just who were these guys anyway?

"This is getting bad. I don't know how long I'm going to keep this up." Zed gripped his sword and was prepared to fight again. But unknowingly, someone knocked him in the back of the head, making Zed fall towards the ground, where he fell into unconsciousness.

The one who knocked Zed out looked similar to the other hooded figures. However, the only thing different about this one was that he was wearing a black mask featuring purple eye lines surrounding the eyes. This must've been the leader of this hooded army. The black masked figure noticed the red crystal pendant around Zed's neck. After taking notice of this, he gestured the others to follow him towards another area of the castle. The hooded figures complied as they followed their leader across the hallway, making their way to an unknown destination.

* * *

Princess Aleena was in her room. She was currently relaxing against her bed, although she wasn't in her bed and she didnt have the covers over her. She stared up at the ceiling, mainly because she wasn't feeling tired. She had woken up an hour beforehand, sometime after being shot in the chest by an arrow. Luckily, she survived that nasty confrontation and avoided death.

As she was relaxing on her bed, the door was plowed open thanks to the two guards that had once guarded it. The guards were already on the floor, dead. Aleena was shocked to see this as she looked over at her doorway to see the leader of the hooded figures walk towards her. Aleena was getting nervous by this point.

"W-Who are you?" Aleena demanded.

"My name is Craven." The leader introduced. "And I take it that your Princess Aleena of South Island?"

"Yes...wait! How do you know about me?" Aleena asked.

"You are popular among South Island. It's hard not to know who you are." Craven answered.

"All right, then. Let me ask you this, Craven: Why did you barge in here like that? What are you after?"

"I'm here for you, Princess. Your coming with me." Craven told her.

Aleena shook her head. "Fat chance. I'm not going with someone who wears a bathrobe."

Craven, despite not seeing his face, was somewhat amused by this. "You have guts, I'll give you that. However, I'm afraid you have no choice in the matter. You are coming with me, whether you care or not."

Before Aleena could react, Craven went out and grabbed Aleena and placed her over his shoulder. Aleena tried fighting him off, but it was of no use. Craven's grip was just too strong, as the dark hooded figure made his way out of the door with Aleena over his shoulder.

* * *

Back at Gale's cell, the three guards that were once watching over Gale were killed by three hooded figures that had entered the prison. Gale notices them approach the cell and stare at the blue hedgehog, whom only smirked in return as he approached the bars, right where the hooded figures were at.

"Thanks for the help, there. For a moment, I thought those guards were going to beat me in a three on one staring contest. Let me tell you, if I had eyes at the back of my head, I was fairly certain that I would win that contest." Gale told them, as he stares at each one of them. "But what's with the silly costumes? Is this Halloween or something? Or are you guys here to film corny horror movie that looks as ridiculous as you do?"

One of the hooded soldiers was offended by this, as he tried to grab Gale through the bars. But Gale was fast enough to jump backwards to avoid getting grabbed. Gale retaliated by swinging his fist and slams it into the chest. But surprisingly, the fist of Gale was able to punch the soldier's ribcage, where he felt something rather sticky and wet and pulled it out from his chest. It felt like a beating heart, which disgusted Gale.

"OK...that was disturbing." Gale said lowly. "I wonder if that's how all these guys feel?"

The other two hooded soldiers pulled out their arrows and attempted to kill Gale through the bars. But just as they got their aiming ready, there was a signal being made in their minds. It was their leader: Craven. It seems as though he was trying to communicate with them telepathically. The hooded soldiers were hesitant at first, but they did not want to anger their leader, so they lowered their bows and quickly headed out the door.

"Well, that was weird." Gale thought to himself as he looked at the beating heart he secretly stole. "Perhaps this thing would be considered good luck."

As if on cue, someone else entered through the door. For a moment, Gale thought it was the hooded soldiers, but it turned out to be Riolu, Gale's friend.

Riolu looked glad to see. "Gale, are you all right?"

"I'm fine, of course." Gale replied. "What about you? How did you get passed those hooded soldiers?"

"You know me, Gale." Riolu smirked. "I have my ways of staying in the shadows." The blue dog-like creature saw Gale's predicament. "It looks like you need to get out there. Let me help."

Gale stepped backwards, knowing what was coming. Riolu created a dark wave of energy in his hands.

"Shadow Ball!" Riolu shouted as he thrusted his arms forward, sending the Shadow Ball towards the bars, instantly breaking them into piece. Gale stepped outside of his cell and stretched his legs.

"Thanks, Riolu." Gale nodded at his friend. "Now, what do you say we get out of this dump?"

Riolu nodded, as he and Gale ran out of the jail cell, leaving it behind and heading towards the exit.

* * *

Zed was able to get back to his feet after rubbing his head in pain. He looked around to see that the guards were still knocked out and he was the only one standing.

"I guess those hooded figures did a number on me what I least expected it." Zed thought to himself. He looked around at the window and noticed that the purple fog around the island disappeared. "That's strange. I guess those guys left. But I wonder what they were after?"

As he looked around for any signs of the hooded figures, Gale and Riolu also arrived at the same time that Zed was looking out the window, causing them to stop. Zed turned around to see the two, which caused his eyes to narrow.

"You! How did you escape?" Zed questioned angrily.

"That would be my friend there, but don't blame him." Gale said. "Blame yourself for being a lazy guard to your princess."

When Gale mentioned the princess, Zed lowered his guard. "Aleena...I have to find out if she's all right!"

"Actually..." Riolu paused for a breif second before continuning. "I saw those hooded figures take her."

Zed's eyes widened in shock. "What? Princess Aleena's been kidnapped?"

"When I made my way to break Gale out, I noticed one of the hooded soldiers grabbed Aleena over it's shoulder and took her away from her room." Riolu explained.

Zed couldn't believe what he was hearing. "No...! No! Princess Aleena's gone! How am I suppose to find her?"

Gale had a thought on his mind. "I think I know one way."

Zed looked up at Gale. "You do? How?"

"I didn't notice it at first, but those hooded soldiers looked strangely familiar." Gale thought. "I think they might be known as the Black Mist Crew."

"Black Mist Crew?" Zed questioned. "What do they want with Princess Aleena?"

"Who knows?" Gale shrugged. "But I can tell you that those guys are nothing but trouble. My father had encountered those guys before, and if I know the Black Mist Crew, then your princess might be in danger."

"What do we do, then?" Zed asked.

"We'll have to take one of your ships and use it as our own if we're going to be able to find them." Riolu suggested.

At first, Zed didn't like this idea at all. But he was Princess Aleena's guard, and he would do whatever it takes to protect her. "All right. Follow me. I know where to find a good ship, anywhere."

After saying these words, Gale, Riolu, and Zed quickly traveled towards the docks to get themselves a ship that would help them find Princess Aleena.

* * *

**Princess Aleena has been captured by these strange hooded figures known as the Black Mist Crew. How will Zed be able to co-exist with Gale and Riolu? What is the reason for Princess Aleena's kidnapping? And where is the Black Mist Crew located at? Find out on the next Gale the Hedgehog: Adventures of the Dead Sea!**

**Please, read and review.**


	4. Bar Room Brawl

******GALE THE HEDGEHOG: ADVENTURES OF THE DEAD SEA**

Characters © Respective Owners

Chapter Three: Bar Room Brawl

**- South Island -**

Shortly after escaping the castle, Gale, Riolu, and Zed went out towards the docks to find a ship that would help them chase down the Black Mist Crew that had recently kidnapped Princess Aleena.

As they went through the village, the female human citizen that we saw from before saw the three heading towards docks. "Excuse me?"

The three stopped in their tracks and turned to see the female human citizen approaching them. "I'm sorry if you are in a rush, but are you heading towards docks?"

"Yeah." Zed replied. "We're going to down there to steal a ship and go find Princess Aleena."

"I'm afraid that the guards down at the docks are not letting anyone permitting to leave. They said that they are going to take a ship to chase down the hooded figures themselves." The female human citizen answered.

That made things only worse for Zed. Even in the worse times of crisis, King Azreal didn't even council Zed as the one head in charge. He wondered why that was the case, seeing as how Zed was Aleena's royal guard? This made Zed growl in anger. "Now what do we do?"

Gale lowered his head in thought. Then suddenly, a smirked crossed his face. "I got an idea."

"You do?" Zed asked.

"Riolu, do you still have one of those 'special items'?" Gale asked his friend.

Riolu had a very good idea on what Gale was talking about. "I sure do."

"Good. Now I think we should give those guards a surprise that will make them want to jump out of their shells." Gale said.

* * *

At the docks, we see the guards have already boarded one of the ships in preparation to rescue Princess Aleena. The Guard Captain looked around to see that the preparations were already in good progress.

"Keep it up!" The Guard Captain shouted. "We must rescue Princess Aleena at all costs!"

As the guards responded with pride, Gale, Riolu, and Zed have already made it towards the ship. They noticed all the guards that were on the ship.

"Hey, pansy!" Gale called out.

Immediately hearing this, the Guard Captian turned around to see Gale, Riolu, and Zed looking up at ship. "Who goes there! What are you doing here?"

"I am Zed: Royal Guard to Princess Aleena. As her royal guard, I would ask that you permit us to take your ship so that we can go find Princess Aleena ourselves." Zed told him.

"By yourselves?" The Guard Captain noticed Gale and Riolu at his side. "I cannot do that. You may be Princess Aleena's royal guard, but there is no way I am letting you on. Especially with those two pirate thugs."

Gale sighed heavily. "That's too bad. Now I'm going to have to resort to crazy tactics."

The Guard Captain raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

Gale pulled out something from his bag. It looked like a red round object with a fuse on it. "This here is a bomb, and if it goes off, I am pretty sure you and your guards won't see the light of day again."

The Guard Captain's eyes widened in horror. "E-Everyone! Abandon ship! He has a bomb!"

The guards wasted no time as each one of them ran towards the edge of the ship and jumped off towards the water, including the Guard Captain himself. Soon, all of the guards were off the ship as they swimmed towards shore.

When they were gone, Riolu smirked over at his friend. "They really fell for that one, didn't it?"

"You got that right." Gale said as he looked at the red bomb. "It's a shame for them that this was only a fake bomb. And I knew that this wouldn't let me down before." He added with a smirk.

"Now then, let's board the ship!" Riolu said.

Gale, Riolu, and Zed ran towards the plank of the ship that would lead them towards the ship. A minute later, all three of them were on board the ship. Riolu got into position of the sails, Gale got a hold of the wheel, and Zed had a hold of the map, just in case they needed it.

Gale felt the wind breezing over his head. "How goes the sail, Riolu?"

"Working like a charm." Riolu replied with a thumbs up.

"Excellent. Now it's time to set sail!" Gale shouted with a enthusiasm.

When the sail was in a good posiiton, the wind started to blow through it. The large ship started to move away from the docks of South Island as they headed towards the blue ocean, where they would be leaving behind South Island for quite some time.

Zed looked back at South Island one more time as the ship was already departing from the island. Gale looked over his shoulder and looked at the island himself.

"I can't believe I'm leaving behind this place." Zed said, a little depressed.

"Relax, my friend." Gale said with a smirk. "Now you get to learn the ways of the sea, which is what every pirate dreams for. And as for South Island..." Gale looked over at it once again. "Well... let's just say that we won't be going back there for quite some time."

Zed had a weird feeling that Gale was right. With what's been going on recently, it felt like South Island itself was responsible for Princess Aleena's capture. In a way, it was a good thing to get away from that place. And maybe...getting out at sea was also a good thing. Maybe.

* * *

**One Week Later...**

It had been over a week since Gale, Riolu, and Zed had departed South Island to search for Princess Aleena. It was a cloudy day, as our heroes were sailing across the sea.

On the ship, we could see Riolu scouting for anything at sea while Gale was busy drinking his rum while relaxing on a rail against the ship. Zed wasn't too far away as he watched Gale relaxing himself.

"Ah, nothing like a good taste of rum. The sea is calm, the wind is solid, and the sky is looking cloudy as ever." Gale said with a clam smile on his face.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching his direction. Gale turned his head to see Zed the Chameleon coming towards him.

"Gale, there's something I need to ask you about." Zed said to him.

"Well, this is interesting. Go ahead." Gale gestured.

"Back at South Island, you mentioned that those hooded figures that took Princess Aleena is called the Black Mist Crew." Zed explained. "How is it that you know these guys? Did you encounter them before?"

"Nope." Gale shook his head while rolling the bottle cap back on the rum. "I've only heard tales about them."

"What kind of tales?" Zed questioned.

Gale looked up at the cloud sky, as if he was inspecting something. "Well, there is a rumor that the Black Mist Crew consisted of dead pirates that are brought back from the dead."

"How is that possible?" Zed asked.

"I don't know." Gale shrugged. "To be honest, anything can happen when it comes to the Black Mist Crew."

"What do they do?" Zed wondered.

"From what I hear, I think they may be mercenaries." Gale thought. "But then again, I'm not exactly sure about that, either. I mean, if they were mercenaries, I think it would be odd for anyone to actually try and pay them so that they can do someone else's dirty work." He chuckled.

For some reason, Zed wasn't believing that Gale was telling the truth about the Black Mist Crew. It was like Gale was hiding something, but he wasn't exactly sure himself. "It sounds like your being dishonest about something."

Gale looked at him strangely. "Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest. Honestly, it's the honest ones you want to watch out for, because you can never predict when they're going to do something incredibly stupid."

Zed wasn't sure how to counter that statement. It just seemed all over the place. He decided to give up on it for now and leave it be.

As Gale looked at his bottle of rum and examined the glass all around it. "You know, I've been thinking."

"About what?" Zed asked.

Gale turned to Zed. "If we are going to go after the Black Mist Crew, I think it best that we round up a crew. Besides, the Black Mist Crew has probably an endless number of undead pirates."

"Hmm..." Zed thought about it. "I think that might be a good idea. If that's the case, we should probably had for Tortuga. We can hire the best men there and have them join up with us."

"Nah, that's too obvious." Gale shook his head.

"What do you mean 'too obivious'?" Zed narrowed his eyes at him.

"Think about it. Do you think these 'professional lackeys' have even heard of the Black Mist Crew? Do they have any fighting experience on taking on something that they've never heard of?" Glae questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Zed rethinked about his suggestion. After hearing Gale's opinion, he did raise a good point. And also, who the hell would believe them anyway? "Then where do you suggest we go?"

Gale had his smirk again. "Shipwreck Isle."

Zed raised an eyebrow. "Shipwreck Isle?"

"It's good place to start out." Gale replied. "I'm sure that there might be someone there that can help us."

As Gale and Zed were discussing about Shipwreck Isle, Riolu was still looking over the sea for any indication of an island that may have been nearby. Suddenly, his eyes were fixed on something rather in particular. "Gale! We found it!"

Gale quickly rushed over to where Riolu was looking at. Zed quickly joined in to see what Riolu had found. The two made it to Riolu's side and looked over to see an island that was ahead of them.

"What is that place?" Zed asked.

"That, my friend, is Shipwreck Isle." Gale announced with his smirk.

We zoom towards the island to get a better look at it. The island itself was filled with trees and sand. But in front of the small forest, we could see a large gray ship that was upside down, designed with round windows, and a wooden banner over the door that was painted _Shipwreck Isle Bar_.

A few minutes later, Gale's ship was docked near Shipwreck Isle as our heroes got out of the ship and landed on the sandy ground. All three of them looked around at the island that they were standing on.

"This looks to be the place." Riolu said. "Do you know who we are going to find?"

"I'm still thinking on that." Gale replied. "While we're here, let's go inside for a drink, shall we?'

"Right behind ya." Riolu nodded with a smirk.

* * *

**- Shipwreck Isle Bar -**

The scene shifts towards the inside of the bar. Inside, we could see a lot of anthro pirates dressed up in raggedy clothing. Most of them were sitting around tables drinking rum while telling stories, while another corner we see that there are a few whale violinists playing music, and the bar table was also filled with raggedy pirates drinking rum while eating a meal as well.

Over at the entrance, we see the door opening, revealing it to be Gale, Riolu, and Zed. The three walked inside the bar while the door closed them in. The trio looked around until they saw several empty stools near the bar table, so they made their way towards it and sat down. Gale gestured the waitress to come by, to which she did.

"What can I help you with?" She asked.

"Three large bottles of rum, miss." Gale answered with a smile.

Zed was abot to interuppt, but Gale stopped him and continued onwards. "If you please."

"Very well, It will be your way in a minute." She said before heading towards the shelves of drinks. She grabbed three bottles of rum from the cooler and made her way back towards the trio. "Here you go, that'll be $10 gold.

Riolu reached into his bag and pulled out a large bag of gold money and handed it over to her. "Keep the change."

As took the money, and left our heroes to themselves. When she left, Zed turned towards the two pirates.

"So what are we suppose to do here, anyway?" Zed questioned.

"We know someone here that can help us. We just have to find that person, first." Riolu replied.

As the trio were discussing about what they should do next, a brown cheetah pirate that was sitting next to Gale turned his head to notice the blue hedgehog. He raised an eyebrow. "Gale?"

Gale turned to see whom was talking to him. "And who might you be?"

"Don't you remember me?" The brown cheetah pirate asked. "I use to be a part of your father's crew, but I never got paid! And now I'm demanding that you pay me back right now!"

Gale seemed to remember this guy, so he tried to talk some sense into him. "Listen, the reason my father never paid you back was of your cowardice. You were always a coward when it came to fighting, and you never once took part in any pillaging that we use to do. So why should I pay you back if you never did anything for the crew?"

The brown cheetah pirate took thought in what Gale had told him. Now that he brought it up, he did seem to remember those times where he would run away from a fight and always hide in the deck of the ship.

Gale looked at the brown cheetah pirate. He believed that he was actualy consider this. But then, another random pirate came towards Gale and looked him in the eye.

"Hey! Aren't you suppose to be Gale, the son of Capt. Swift?" The black penguin asked.

"That, I am." Gale smirked. "And who might you be?"

"I was once a member of your father's crew, as well! I was suppose to be paid back years ago by you, but you never once did that! I worked hard for the crew, so I say that you pay me back!"

As Gale was trying to think of a way out of this situation, another pirate from a different table stood up from his seat.

"I happened to be a member of that very same crew, as well! What happened to my money? I was suppose to get paid!"

Another pirate stood up from his sea. "Me too! I never got paid, and I demand my money this instant!"

Soon, all of the pirates of the bar started to riot. Apparently, they were all a member of Capt. Swift's crew. Gale looked around, not too thrilled about the situation that grew even larger than usual. Riolu and Zed seemed a bit worried as well.

"What's going on? Why are all these pirates against Gale?" Zed asked him.

"I think Gale forgot to pay back for all the pirates that use be a part of our crew." Riolu realized. "And it looks like we aren't going to leave here anytime soon, either."

The three got together and decided that the only way out of this was the hard way. One of the pirates threw a right fist at Gale, but the blue hedgehog stepped to the side, letting the pirate miss his punch. Gale quickly grabbed the pirate and threw him over the bar table, letting him crash into the glass before falling towards the ground.

Riolu and Zed decided to split up from each other to try and take them out without them getting cornered as a group. With Gale, another pirate swinged his beer bottle at him, but missed as it smashed the table, breaking the glass while the liquid flew all over the table. Gale kicked the pirate in the shin multiple times before doing a missile dropkick to the stomach, sending the pirate flying backwards towards the ground. Another pirate tried to get him from behind, but Gale quickly used his right knee to smash the pirate in the stomach. Gale then grabbed the back of his head and smashed his head against his knee multiple times before grabbing the large bottle of rum he received from earlier and smashed it over the pirate's head, knocking him out to the ground.

"Aye, that's going to leave a mark." Gale thought to himself. "Maybe I should've gone for something softer...nah, that would be too obvious." He said while throwing the broken bottle away.

With Zed, we could see the red chamelon surrounded by four pirates. One of the pirates charged at him with his fist, but Zed quickly grabbed his arm and threw him over his shoulder, where the pirate landed on the ground with a thud. Another pirate came at him and tried to take him head-on. Zed blocked the punched with his elbows and retaliated by punching the pirate in the face, knocking him back towards a table. Another pirate had a bottle of beer in his hand and swinged it at Zed, hoping to smash him in the face. Zed quickly dodged to the side as the bottle missed him entirely. Zed quickly swinged his right fist at the pirate's face, knocking him backwards a couple of steps. The pirate soon recovered and got back into the action. He swinged his fist at Zed's stomach, but once again, Zed caught the pirate's arm as he got behind him while twisting his arm, making the pirate drop the beer bottle to the ground before Zed pushed him forwards.

The pirate was able to stop himself as he turned around and was about to get back into the action again. But the moment he charged at him, Zed had the bottle that the pirate dropped and smashed it over his head, knocking him out towards the ground.

Zed wanted to inspect his work, but he had no time for that. The pirate he knocked towards the table came back with a wooden chair in his hand. Zed's eyes widened as the pirate prepared to swing at him. Thinking quickly, Zed jumped towards the ground and used his left leg to sweep the pirate off his feet, making him drop the chair. The pirate was able to get back to his feet, but was met with another right fist to the face by Zed, which was able to knock him out cold.

Zed sighed in relief, but heard someone from behind him, trying to take him out. Zed grabbed the chair by it's legs, and quickly swinged it at the pirate, instantly knocking him out towards the ground.

Zed dropped the chair and looked around to see the pirates, either unconsious or still breathing. Zed had to admit, besides being a royal guard to Princess Aleena, this was pretty tough work.

Riolu was already in a brawl with a few of the pirates. One of them tried swinging a bottle of beer at him, but Riolu dodged to the side just to avoid it in time. Riolu thrusted his aura palm into the pirate's stomach, knocking him backwards. Another pirate came at him with another beer bottle in hand. However, Riolu ducked underneath the bottle before it could smash his head, and was able to retaliate by kicking the pirate in the stomach, in which, Riolu grabbed the bottle out of the pirate's hand and smashed it over his head, knocking him out towards the ground.

The blue dog-like creature turned to see a nearby pirate swinging his fist at his stomach. The punch connected, making Riolu stagger backwards a few steps towards where the whales were still playing the violin. Riolu looked over to see this and back at the pirate whom was ready to action again. He then looked back towards the whale again.

"Excuse, me, but may I borrow your violin?" Riolu asked.

The whale violin, surprisingly, handed him his violin. Riolu grabbed the violin and looked back at the pirate to see him charging at him again with his fists at the ready. Riolu smirked as he raised the violin in the air, and at the right time, he quickly slammed it down towards the pirates head. The violin smashed through the pirate's head, as the wood from the instrument broke as did the strings. The pirate was soon in a daze as Riolu finished off with an aura punch to the pirate's head, knocking him towards the ground.

For a moment, Riolu thought that he had time to rest. But then he saw two more pirates coming at him with beer bottles in their hands. Riolu created a dark ball of energy in his hands and prepared to counter the attack.

"Shadow Ball!" Riolu shouted, as he released the dark ball of energy towards one of the pirates. The attack connected, sending one of the pirates flying backwards until he crashed into a wall.

The other pirate was still coming towards him, but Riolu countered by thrusting both of his hands forward, creating a forceful attack that sent him flyign backwards towards a different wall, knocking him out as well.

Soon afterwards, all of the pirates had been taken out. Gale, Riolu, and Zed surveyed the mess that had occured here at the bar. Most of the pirates were knocked out, while a few of them were still slowly moving around while groaning in pain.

"Not sure I deserved that." Gale thought. "I mean, they attacked me because they thought I owed them money."

"Well, they seemed rather furious." Riolu pointed out before shrugging. "I guess they were drunk."

"That must've been the answer." Gale nodded once. "What do you think, Zed?"

Zed was about to reply, but before he could do that, a beer bottle smashed into the back of his head, knocking him out towards the ground.

Gale and Riolu were about to check up on him, but a couple of more bottles of beer smashed over their heads, knocking them out cold as they fell towards the ground as well. The figure from behind them dragged all three of their downed bodies towards an unknown destination.

* * *

Gale slowly opened his eyes. It had been a couple of hours since he, Riolu, and Zed had been knocked out by beer bottles. The only question was: who was it that knocked them out? Was it a pirate that they somehow forgot? He looked over to see that Riolu and Zed were beside him, but still knocked out cold.

"I see that you're finally awake." A female voice said. "It certainly has been a long time."

Gale looked up to who it was that spoke to him. His eyes widened at who it was. She was a tall cream-colored rabbit with orange patches over her eyes, forehead, and the tips of her ears. She was wearing a pair of black slacks with a black cape connected around the waist, a black sleeveless top with a diagonal cut in the back, black zipper shoes, and a pair of black gloves complete with silver ring bracelets.

"Vanilla!" Gale said out loud. But he soon paid the price when Vanilla slaps him in the face. Gale tried to speak again, but Vanilla slapped him again from talking. That second slap also made him drop one of his moslers.

"It's a good thing you came here, you strander!" Vanilla yelled at him. Obviously, she was angry. "So what the hell have you been doing since you left? Leaving behind more pirates?"

"Huh?' Gale was slightly confused.

Vanilla slapped her head in annoyance. "You left me stranded during our last job together and I was left wondering to defend myself! How the hell do you think I feel about that?"

"But-"

"Shut up!" Vanilla interuppted him. "Because of you, my life here is almost a wreck, whereas I have to deal and tend to other pirates like yourself who need to a drink so that they can satisfy themselves!"

"Vanilla, listen!" Gale shouted, making Vanilla stop talking for a moment. "I'm sorry for leaving you behind. It was my falut and I apologize for that. I promise to pay you back for everything to the last cent that I owe you."

Vanilla narrowed her eyes at him. "Why are you being nice to me?"

Gale kept on a straight face and answered her. "Because I know what Craven wants." The blue hedgehog nodded his head over towards Zed.

Vanilla turned her head to see the fallen Zed. She noticed the red crystal pendant around his neck. Her eyes widened at what she saw. "Is that the...?"

"Yep." Gale nodded. "It's the Dead Stone."

Vanilla seemed to think that Gale was telling the truth. If Zed was carrying around this Dead Stone, this it may be very important. "All right, then. What has happened so far?"

"It's a pretty long story, so unless you want to use the bathroom, now is the time." Gale told her.

"I'm prefectly fine." Vanilla replied back. "Now tell me."

"Very well, then." Gale took a deep breath, as he prepared to tell the events of what has happened thus far.

* * *

**An important clue lies within Zed's crystal pendant. Why does Craven want the Dead Stone? How does Gale know about the stone? And how will Vanilla react to all that's happened recently? Find out on the next Gale the Hedgehog: Adventures of the Dead Sea!**

**Please, read and review.**


	5. Legend of Death

******GALE THE HEDGEHOG: ADVENTURES OF THE DEAD SEA**

Characters © Respective Owners

Chapter Four: Legend of Death

**- Unknown Location -**

The scene shifts towards a dark jail cell, where we could see Princess Aleena, whom was tapping her foot down on the ground, impatient as to how she was captured by the Black Mist Crew back from South Island. It didn't make sense to her as to why these guys would kidnap her in the first place. Was it because she was the princess? Or was it because these guys were bandits and wanted something out of her in order to get it? Whatever the reason, the main thing right now was her way to escape this place. However, she had no idea where she was, so I guess that was out of the question for the time being.

"Gosh, I'm bored." Aleena sighed. "There's just nothing to do here. I've been captured for no reason why, and the longer I stay here, the more I feel like banging my head against a wall." She groaned, not liking that idea.

Suddenly, she heard the door open from the other side of her cell, revealing it to be Craven: The leader of the Black Mist Crew. Aleena looked up to see the dark robed figure walking towards her cell with a plate of food in his hand. He opens the door and approaches Aleena.

"How is the princess doing?" Craven asked pleasantly.

"Well, I was fine, until you guys showed up, kidnapped me, and took me in as your prisoner." Aleena remarked sarcastically. "How do you think 'I'm doing'?"

"I am terribly sorry for my actions earlier." Craven apologized. "And to make up for my mistakes, I have brought you dinner."

Aleena looks at the food Craven was carrying. There was a bowl of soup, two bread sticks, and a glass of grape juice. She had to admit, all of this food made her stomach grumble with hunger. She had not eaten much since being kidnapped over a week ago and she was looking forward to getting something inside her stomach. However, something else was on her mind. "Why are you being nice to me?"

"It's only because we care about you." Craven replied. "What's the problem?"

"The problem is that the reason you captured me is because you want to put a bail for my father to release me so that you could take over South Island in the place of my father." Aleena replied.

"Is that so?" Craven chuckled. "My princess, I assure you that I am not after your father's throne."

Aleena raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

"I am after something more important. Something with more desire." Craven paused for a moment. "...The Death Stones."

"The Death Stones?" Aleena was confused. "What the heck is that?"

"It's very simple." Craven replied. "The seven Death Stones were known as a curse to all those that possessed them. And because of this curse, it was said to be locked away, never to be seen to anyone because of it's curse. How were they made? Well, shortly after this person created the Death Stones, he was killed by a group of assassins. And while they tried to destroy the Death Stones, the stones powers activated, killing them instantly. Since then, no one has even tried to find the Death Stones because of this curse." He paused for a moment. "Years passed, and seven people discovered the Death Stones."

"What kind of curse are you talking about?" Aleena questioned.

"Five of the seven people to receive this curse had their faces turned into something that is not even worth calling 'normal'. Out of those seven pirates, three of them turned out to be Capt. Swift, Zed's grandfather, and myself." Craven explained. "But for some reason, those two were not affected by this curse, and I was."

Aleena thought this whole thing sounded ludicrous and unreal. "How do I know you're telling me the truth? What if your just making this up in an attempt to scare me?"

"I assure you, Princess, I am not making this up." Craven said. Then pulled off his mask to reveal his true face. His eye balls were colored like blood, while his eye color was dark blue and very slowly melting. His nose was made out of dead cockroaches, his lower chin was made out of dark burnt layer skin, and there were blood veins that you would originally see popping out of a person's skin, but instead, we can actually see the blood veins across his eyes and across his face.

Aleena almost choked to see his face up close. "Oh, that's disgusting!"

"Now do you believe the story?" Craven asked as he put his mask back on his face. "It is not a pretty sight."

"For once. I believe you." Aleena replied. "And you know what else? I'm outta here!"

Before Craven could react, Aleena quickly dashed towards her open cell and exited it. She then opened the other door and shut it behind her, leaving Craven to watch her go.

Inside his mask, he smirked. "She actually plans on getting away? This will be interesting to see."

* * *

With Aleena, we see the Princess of South Island making her way down the dark hallways of the dungeon, trying to get away from this place, despite the fact that she had no idea where they had taken her.

"Now that I got away from that creep, I have to find my out of here." Aleena said to herself as she looked around while running. "...Wherever here is."

Deciding to think about where she was later, she soon saw a couple of the hooded soldiers up ahead. They looked like they were ready to capture Princess Aleena in their tracks. However, Aleena wasn't going to stop just because her way was blocked by a couple of hooded freaks. The violet hedgehog decided to take a chance and fight off these guys. When Aleena was close to them, she quickly speared one of them towards the ground. She turned around to see the other hooded soldier trying to grab her. This backfired as Aleena used her right foot to kick the soldier in the stomach, causing the solder to grasp it in pain. Aleena quickly finished it off with a roundhouse kick to the face, knocking the soldiers to the ground.

"Well, that wasn't so hard." Aleena thought to herself. "I may as well continue on before I get caught."

As Aleena began to run again, she saw several more hooded soldiers heading towards her position. Smirking to herself, Aleena ran towards the hooded soldiers to meet them head-on. As the three soldiers prepared to take out their bows, Aleena, like before, speared one of them towards the ground. Once it was down, Aleena took the bow from it's hand and instead of using it like how a bow should work, she uses it to swing at the other soldiers weapons to knock it out of their hands. This proved to be successful as both of the weapons fell to the ground. She then used it again to smack one of the soldier's in the face, knocking it off it's feet.

Aleena turned to see that the other soldier leaned down to pick up it's weapon, but she wasn't going to allow this, as she used her foot again to hit the soldier in the face, making it grasp it's head in pain. As it was trying to recover, Aleena did a swinging kick with her foot, connecting to the soldier's stomach. The blow was more than enough to send the soldier flying backwards, making it crash it's back against the wall before slowly slipping towards the ground.

The other hooded soldier from before got back to it's feet and prepared to jump at Aleena again. However, Aleena saw the hooded soldier, so she punched the soldier in the chest area repeatedly before following with a high kick to the face, sending the soldier flying a few feet in the air before landing back on the ground on it's back, where the soldier laid there, not moving.

As Aleena surveyed the damage she had done, she noticed that the soldier that she had speared earlier got back to it's feet and was going to jump at her again. However, Aleena was fast on her feet **(no pun intended) **as she quickly used her left foot to kick the hooded soldier in the face. But to her surprise, the hooded figure was fast enough to catch her foot with it's hands.

Aleena's eyes widened a bit by this sudden take back, but then narrowed her eyes at the hooded soldier. "You probably shouldn't have done that. You never know when a lady has her limits."

On that note, Aleena did an enziguri kick with her other foot to the hooded soldier's face, making it drop to it's knees before falling face-first towards the ground.

Aleena got back to her feet and sighed in relief to know that she had taken out the last of the surrounding soldiers. "Well, that wasn't so though, I guess."

She then decided to not waste anymore time and move on before any more soldiers would arrive to stop her. But unfortunately for her, she saw more soldiers ahead when she ran away from the carnage she had caused a little while back.

"Oh great, more of these hooded weirdos." Aleena cringed slightly.

And as if the numbers couldn't be worse, this time, there were four hooded soldiers blocking the path in front of her. Aleena's confidence seemed to decrease a bit this time, as she tried to think of a way out of this situation. Gears were turning in her head, trying to find a strategy on how to pass these soldiers, unharmed. Usually, it would take about a short time, but with more soldiers, it took longer than she thought.

"I guess I could just charge at these and hopefully go for a strike." Aleena thought.

As Aleena prepared to go bowling against these guys, she didn't realize that the hooded figures from behind her were already back up to their feet. And before she had time to notice this, one of the hooded figures attacked the back of her head. Aleena's eyes snapped open wide for a second before she fell to the ground, unconsious by the blow from the hooded soldiers.

The hooded solders saw the downed form of Aleena. Seeing as how she was knocked out, one of the soldiers picked up Aleena's body over it's shoulder and carried her back to her prison cell.

* * *

Aleena slowly opened her eyes to the familiar ceiling she once saw when she first appeared here. She slowly sat up to see the bars across from her. Sadly, this wasn't a good thing for her.

"I guess those hooded guys got to me first." Aleena said, as she rubbed the back of her head. "Stupid pain. How the hell did I not see it coming?"

"It was because you were careless, my princess." A familiar voice replied.

Aleena's eyes snapped open and turned her head to see Craven standing there. She then sighed. "You never learn to let a girl have her privacy?"

"My apologies, Princess Aleena. However, I had to wait until you were all right." Craven answered with a smile inside his mask.

Aleena shook her head before looking through her cell again. "How long was I out?"

"You were out for at least two hours." Craven responded.

"Two hours?" Aleena wondered. "I was out for that long?"

"That is what you get for trying to escape, Princess Aleena." Craven told her smoothly. "Don't worry. I knew you were going to attempt escaping, anyway. And I have to say, you were pretty good at holding your own against my crew with your own body."

"It's not like I had anything else to defend myself from your group of thugs." Aleena narrowed her eyes at him. "Why am I here, anyway? If I don't have anything to do with the Death Stones, then why keep me here?"

"I cannot say." Craven answered. "However, I can assure that you that your capture will lure Zed right to us."

"Zed?" Aleena's eyes sparked at hearing his name.

"You will learn soon enough, Princess." Craven told her. "For now, you should enjoy your dinner. I don't want you to starve on an empty stomach."

Aleena watched as Craven opened the cell and closed it behind him before leaving her room, leaving her to herself. She felt a mixture of feelings inside her. On one hand, she was hoping that Zed would come and save her. But then again, this is what Craven wants. But why?

* * *

**There is more to the Death Stones than meets the eye. Why is the Black Mist Crew keeping Aleena hostage? Is Aleena's theory right about her father? And sinister plan does Craven have in store for Zed? Find out on the next Gale the Hedgehog: Adventures of the Dead Sea!**

**Please, read and review.**


	6. Black Magic

******GALE THE HEDGEHOG: ADVENTURES OF THE DEAD SEA**

Characters © Respective Owners

Chapter Five: Black Magic

The scene shifts towards Gale's ship. Well actually, this was a different ship. Vanilla managed to smuggle a new ship because they did not want to confuse anyone with the original ship being it from South Island. Since her help, Gale and his crew were already sailing across the ocean. Their destination was the direction in where the Black Mist Crew was located at.

We move closer towards the ship to see Gale holding a strange compass in his hand. It was a small black compass with white rectangular designs all over. The compass radiator's was white with a red and blue arrows pointing in the opposite directions from each other.

Not too far away from him was Vanilla, as she walked over towards Gale after finishing her own duties. And from the look on her face, she still didn't look very happy. "Gale, do you know where we are going?"

Gale looked at her strangely. "What are you talking about, Vanilla?"

"We've been at sea for nearly three weeks." Vanilla huffed. "And there still isn't an island in sight. Are you sure we're heading in the right direction?"

"I believe so." Gale replied, as he checked his compass again. "The compass is pointing East, so it looks like we are heading the right way."

Vanilla slapped her head in annoyance. "Idiot! Do you know where we're going? We haven't seen in island for weeks!"

Gale pointed up a finger for a moment to reply back...until he realized what she just said. "Oh, come now. We've only been at sea for three weeks. Voyages like these take a while, you know?"

"I can understand that. But unless someone gets us lost, then that means there is a problem, right?" Vanilla questioned.

"Well...now that you put it that way..." Gale said sheepishly.

Vanilla

"What's going on?" Zed asked, as he and Riolu joined up on deck after finishing up on their duties.

"We heard a little bit of shouting, and we figured you two would be bickering like an old couple." Riolu said with his arms crossed. "May we ask why?"

"If you would believe it, Gale has lead us in the middle of nowhere." Vanilla argued.

"What?" Zed growled angrily.

"You lead us away from where we were suppose to go?" Riolu questioned, also irritated by this.

"How was I suppose to know that? It's not like we were hunting the Lochness Monster or something." Gale shrugged.

"Not that lame excuse again." Vanilla groaned to herself.

"I mean, I tried using my compass." Gale explained. "I was certain we were going the right direction, but I guess I was wrong."

Zed took a look at the compass in Gale's hand. "That is a strange looking compass. It's not familiar to any compasses I've seen before."

"Oh, this?" Gale showed the compass in his hand. "It's a special compass that I...crafted with my own hands." He smirked, almost devilishly.

"Then that must explain on how you got us lost." Vanilla said with her arms crossed.

"Hey now, we haven't run into trouble now, have we?" Gale asked her with a sheepish grin.

"Whatever." Vanilla rolled her eyes.

"Now that we're lost, we'll have to stop on a nearby island somewhere and reform our direction." Zed said.

"But where?" Vanilla asked. "There isn't an island for miles!" She turned to Riolu, whom wasn't paying attention to the conversation. "Riolu, are you listening?"

"I am." Riolu nodded. He was looking in the direction in where the ship was going. "And to answer your other question, there's an island up ahead."

The group headed towards the front of the ship to get a better look at the island for themselves. The island itself was consisted of wooden cabins and lodges where it looked like very few people lived here from the range of the island itself. In the background, we could see a large black mountain made of stone, which was also rounded. Although judging by it's structure, it didn't look like mountain at all.

The ship slowly made it's way towards a nearby dock before finally stopping next to it. Once it stopped, our heroes used a plank to walk towards the dock way and looked around at the island they had arrived at. Half of the people turned to see the our heroes slowly walking while looking around at their surroundings.

"It looks like the people here seem afraid of us." Zed whispered quietly.

'"Nah, I don't think so." Gale shook his head. "They're probably just inspecting us."

"And is that suppose to be a good thing to you?" Zed questioned him, still whispering.

"It depends on what kind of a look you give them." Gale replied. "Just don't give them the angry look."

"What do you mean by that?" Zed asked.

"Trust me. Just keep a straight face." Gale told him. "The angry look is never a good sign."

Zed did not understand what Gale meant when he mentioned the 'angry look'. Did he mean by not getting angry for any reason? Or was it something else that Gale was talking about? Whatever the reason, Zed shook his head and decided to let it go for now.

As our heroes continued to look around, we see two female foxes wearing purple veils over their mouths. The fox on the left was red and the fox on the right was green. They wore black bands on their wrists, light pink leather pants, brown shoes, and each had a white tank top to finish the attire. They approached Gale, as the blue hedgehog looked on, curious as to what was going to happen.

"Welcome to Sand Hill Island." The red fox greeted with a smile inside her veil.

"This is the first time in a while since we have had visitors." The green fox added with a small nod.

"That's very nice of you, girls." Gale smiled politely.

The two foxes giggled slightly in returned, much to the dismay of Vanilla, whom was not liking what she was seeing from these fox ladies.

"My name is Ginger." The red fox introduced.

"And my name is Seles." The green fox nodded.

"And we're both sisters." The foxes said together. "And who might you be?"

"My name is Gale the Hedgehog! The greatest pirate to ever sail the seas." Gale responded with a smirk. "And the guys behind me are my crew mates."

"I'm Riolu." The blue dog-like creature greeted with a nod.

"The name is Zed." The chameleon greeted. "I'm a Royal Guard to Princess Aleena of South Island."

For a moment, Vanilla did not respond. But Gale looked at her with a grin, telling her to introduce herself. She gave in with a sigh. "And I'm Vanilla. Gale's CLOSE friend."

Gale raised a small eyebrow by Vanilla's greeting towards the girls. Was something bugging her?

"Is there anything we can help you with?" Seles asked.

"Actually, I think we got kinda off tracked while we were sailing, so we thought about staying for a while until he can get back on course to where we need to go." Gale explained.

"In that case, take a rest here if you like." Ginger suggested. "Or if you like, you can explore the island to get a better look for yourselves."

Before Gale could reply, Vanilla butted in front of him. "We would actually love to explore this island. It gives us much more to do than sticking around doing nothing."

The two foxes looked at each other for a moment, almost like they had something on their minds.

"In that case, we prefer if you took a look at the cave that's right around the back of this island." Ginger suggested.

"Cave?" Zed raised an eyebrow. "There's a cave on this island?"

Seles nodded as she pointed her finger at the black mountain-like structure. "Right there. All you have to do is go through the forest and you'll come across the entrance that leads into the cave."

"If you want to get to the forest, head right from our village. Once there, go through the forest to get to the cave." Ginger explained briefly.

"Is there anything we should be aware of when we get there?" Riolu asked.

"Oh no!" Ginger shook her head. "The forest is clean, we can be sure of that. However, we're not sure about the cave."

"What do you mean? You haven't checked it out?" Zed questioned.

"No, it's not that." Seles shook her head. "You see, when we tried to investigate the cave when we were younger. It just closed on us before we could get any further. We tried to get it open, but to no avail. And since then, that cave has never been opened ever again."

"Have you figured out why the cave had closed itself?" Vanilla asked them.

"Our best guess is because it doesn't want anyone to enter the cave so it could protect itself from intruders." Ginger shrugged. "But in all honesty, we don't know why."

For a moment, our heroes stayed in silence, trying to take in all this information that the two fox girls have told them. This cave had closed itself from anyone that tried to get in, and because of that, the cave had never opened up ever since.

"I'm sorry we couldn't tell you more." Ginger apologized. "If we had more information, we could've told you all about it."

"Don't worry about it." Gale reassured her with a smile. "We'll go investigate ourselves."

"Yeah." Riolu smiled as well. "And thank you for telling us what you do know. It helps a lot."

"You're very welcome." Seles bowed.

After saying a quick good-bye to the two girls, Gale and the rest of the crew went off towards the forest to search for the mysterious cave.

* * *

The scene shifts towards our heroes making their way through the forest. Much like what the girls said earlier, the forest itself was green. However, their was a small trail of mist surrounding the area, although it was barely noticeable. There was a nearby stream that came from a small waterfall that flowed itself towards the village, which also explained on how the people in the village were able to get water in the first place.

Gale looked at his compass once again to make sure that they were going the right way. The others were close to him so that they wouldn't separate from each other.

"You know, I've been thinking about what those girls said earlier." Gale said out loud.

"About the cave?" Zed wondered.

"That's right." Gale replied. "It seems as though my mistake of getting us lost seemed to have led us in the right direction after all."

"You mean, we're on the island of where the Black Mist Crew is hiding?" Riolu asked. "How is it possible?"

Gale seemed to have the answer to what those girls from earlier were talking about. "It seems as though we had gotten a very important clue for this little cave problem. If the cave those girls were trying to get in to seemed to have closed itself. I think I know the reason as to why the cave would not open."

"You do? How?" Zed questioned.

Gale looked at him with a grin. "It's magic."

"Don't be ridiculous." Zed scoffed, believing that Gale wasn't telling the truth. "How the hell could the cave be inherited with magic? If the cave was like that, would it be simple as to say 'open sesame'?"

"Unfortunately for you, my non-believable friend, it isn't that simple." Gale told him. "The only way the magic can only be dispelled is we offer up a blood offering."

Zed did a double take? "A blood offering?"

"That's what he said." Vanilla told him. "I found it a little strange at first, but then I remembered what Gale had told me back when we had supposedly gotten lost. In order to get into Craven's hideout, we need to get in with a blood offering."

"And you believe this?" Zed asked her.

"It's not the first time she believes this stuff. Trust me." Riolu remarked, referring to the times Vanilla used to be a part of Capt. Swift's crew.

The group continued walking for about some minutes later until they came across the cave. Or at least it's what it looked like. The outside of the cave was covered with ground, the cave itself looked round, and the cave's entrance was shut down.

"This must be the cave." Vanilla thought.

"It looks more like a dead end if you ask me." Zed replied with his arms crossed.

Deciding to prove him wrong, Gale picked up a rock and tossed it towards the blocked entrance. Instead of making contact with the door, it instead bounced off, sending the stone flying backwards towards the ground. "Are you sure it's only a dead end?"

Zed decided to say nothing back. Even thought he was wrong, he just kept his a straight face and decided to ignore his own illogical theory.

"So what do we do about a blood offering?" Riolu wondered.

Before Vanilla could reply, Gale beat it to her by pulling out a small bottle of purple liquid. Everyone was confused by this as Gale approached a round stone cup that was attached to a pillar, so it's safe to say that it was in no danger of falling. Gale twisted the cork and opened the bottle as he poured the liquid into the cup. For a moment, nothing happened. That was, until the stone door opened itself by raising the door, so that it would clear an opening for our heroes. The magic itself dematerialized itself, taking care of the last barrier that was protecting the cave.

"Uh...what exactly did you pour in, Gale?" Vanilla questioned.

Gale turned his head at Vanilla. "Oh, that? It's octopus blood."

Vanilla almost choked at this response. "Octopus blood? Where the hell did you manage to get that?"

"I managed to take some back from the bar before we left Shipwreck Isle. Apparently, one of my former crew mates was holding it on him, so I took it from him so that we could gain entrance to Craven's hideout when that time came." Gale explained with a grin.

"If you don't mind me asking, why exactly was this former pirate of yours carrying octupus blood, anyway?" Zed asked.

"Oh...well, honestly, I don't know. But hey, pirates are pirates: We pillage for a living. What can you do about it?" Gale shrugged.

If this whole mess wasn't happening from the beginning, Zed knew exactly what he would do. But with what's been going on, Zed decided that being a pirate wasn't exactly a bad thing. At least, that's what he thought to himself. The real thing on his mind is how would Princess Aleena react when she saw her own royal guard joining a bunch of pirates?

"Let's get going. Otherwise, we could be just standing out here, doing nothing." Riolu suggested.

Zed was able to get the message, as he and the rest of the crew made their way inside the cave.

* * *

Our heroes ventured through the deepest parts of the cave. The cave was dark, obviously, and was filled with skeleton bones that would possibly scare the living daylights of a small child, or any other normal person for that matter.

"It seems that the Black Mist Crew likes to decorate." Riolu said slowly, looking at the signs of dead skulls and bones that hanged itself on the walls. There was also chains on here to torture the dead, as if that wasn't bad enough.

"I really don't care." Zed said. "If it's suppose to scare me away from protecting Princess Aleena, then this Black Mist Crew has another thing coming."

The group suddenly encountered a trail of four different pathways in front of them, each leading to a different part of the cave.

Gale seemed to caught of some sort of impression. "It seems as though Craven has increased a part of his security force."

"What do you mean?" Riolu asked.

"It's like he's trying to set up trials to test us to see if we can make it through this mess." Gale believed.

"So does this mean we're splitting up?" Vanilla wondered.

"That seems to be the plan." Gale replied. "The question is; who takes what pathway?"

"I'm going to take the path on the far right." Zed quickly decided.

"Then I'll go on the path second to where Zed is going." Vanilla said.

"I'll go to the second path to the left." Riolu pointed out. "Is that all right with you, Gale?"

"Whatever works for you." Gale shrugged. "Presonally, I don't really care which path I take. Getting through it is all that matters right now."

After a small debate, the group split themselves up, each taking their own path as they walked through the dark hallways awaiting the trials that were to come.

* * *

**Sometimes you have to take the hard way through before things go easy on you. What do these trials hold in store for our heroes? ****Will Gale and his crew be able to make it through their trials? Or will it prove to be too much for them to overcome? Find out on the next Gale the Hedgehog: Adventures of the Dead Sea!**

**Please, read and review.**


	7. Proving Within, Part 1

******GALE THE HEDGEHOG: ADVENTURES OF THE DEAD SEA**

Characters © Respective Owners

Chapter Six: Proving Within, Part 1

The scene shifts towards Gale's path, where we see the cobalt hedgehog walking down the pathway. Riolu, Zed, and Vanilla all split up into different paths to see where each one lead to an unknown destination. Gale seemed to have notice that Craven had set this up as a test to see if they were worthy of getting past whatever was yet to come.

Even though Gale knew about Craven's tricks, he still had a different feeling on what kind of test he had set for the blue hedgehog. Gale approached a large area in which was filled with skulls scattered in rubble, two candle-like torches set on each side of the wall that were lightened with fire. And a small pond with water being poured from a nearby hole on the wall. Gale thought this to be a set up, seeing as how this area seemed like a trap.

"Well, this looks like to be a spot like any other." Gale thought. "Knowing Craven, he probably set this whole thing up himself. Or maybe he was just lazy and had his friends to do the dirty work for him."

He noticed the water hole that was nearby, so he decided to help himself. He made it towards the water and refilled it with a canteen that he had brought with him. He popped the lid opened and filled the canteen with water by putting it under the pouring liquid from the hole. The water filled up the canteen as Gale shut the lid back to it's original place.

As Gale was satisfied with this, he heard a slight rubble coming from the ground. He looked down to see the wooden floor slowly opening itself up. What Gale could see from the inside of the floor was a pool of lava splashing against the wall. But that wasn't the only thing he saw. There was also something else rising from the ground. It was a large muscular warrior, whom was a half foot taller than Gale, it had red arms the shape of sword blades, the blades were decorated with green lines that were connected from the arms to the body. The stomach was white with lines that curved from the waist towards the chest. It's eyes were glowing yellow. It's head had two red long horns that were shaped upwards. The warriors legs were large and had three yellow nails coming from it's feet. The strange warrior's blades were starting to spark up flames.

Gale raised an eyebrow at this person. "Now that's the strangest thing I've seen if I ever saw it."

The warrior turned it's head towards Gale. "You must be that puny hedgehog Craven talked about!"

Gale smirked. "Ah, you know Craven, don't you? So tell me, does he keep all of his weird monsters inside a pool of lava? Because to me, he must've hired you as his decorator."

"W-What? How dare you insult my master!" The warrior shouted in anger.

"Hey now, I'm not insulting him. You see there is a difference between insulting and complementing someone." Gale told him. "So, what exactly are you suppose to be anyway?"

"I am Pyronaut! I am one of the servants of Craven! And I'm gonna burn you into dust!" Pyronaut cackled as his connected his blade arms together, forming up more sparks.

"Are you sure about that? Because you don't look like someone who would serve someone who leads a group called the Black Mist Crew." Gale said.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Pyronaut asked, puzzled. "He created me to destroy you."

"You see, there's a problem with that." Gale retorted. "If Craven had sent you to do his dirty work, then would that either mean that he has full trust in you, or maybe it's all just false hope."

"O-Of course he has full trust in me!" Pyronaut replied. "Why would he not?"

"Well, if you think about it, he created you not as a servant, but more as a lackey." Gale told him. "There's a difference between having full trust and little trust in someone. For example, if you wanted to abandoned a crew of former pirates behind you would strand them on an island and take off without having to notice them. That's like saying you wanted to name a monkey between Larry or Moe. And in the end, you would name him Caboose." The blue hedgehog sighed depressingly. "I tell ya, there's always a tough decision to make."

Pyronaut seemed confused at Gale's theory about what he thought. He then suddenly shook it off. "Forget it! I believe that my master has full faith in me to see you gone!"

Pyronaut clashed his sword arms together and got into a fighting stance and charged after Gale. Pyronaut quickly swinged his sword at Gale's head, however, Gale saw this coming as he rolled underneath the swing and dodged the attack. Gale springed back up to his feet and quickly kicked the back of Pyronaut several times before sending him forward with one forceful kick, sending the large creature towards the wall, making him crash into it. Pyronaut was able to shake himself off as he turned around and charged towards Gale once more. Gale jump dashed and used his knee to catch Pyronaut off guard. The knee connected, but it didn't really faze him. Pyronaut catches leg and flips him inside out until he lands front first towards the ground.

"Not sure I deserved that." Gale muttered to himself. Trying to shake his head from the fuzziness as he got back to his feet.

"If you thought that was bad, get a load of this!" Pyronaut laughed insanely as he clashed his sword arms together, creating a wave of fire and sending it towards Gale's direction.

Gale's eyes snapped open at the incoming fire. Thinking quickly, Gale dropped towards the ground as the fire shot over him. The fire soon died down as Gale looked up and sighed in relief. "That was close. That was almost like blowing out holes in my dad's ship at one time. Only it wasn't fire. It was cannonballs." Gale shuddered about those things for a moment. He wasn't really afraid of them. He just didn't want to be reminded on how a former crew mate almost messed with the cannonballs they originally had and thought it was a game of soccer.

Pyronaut, thinking that Gale was distracted, decided go in for the attack by charging at him with his sword-arms.

Gale was still in thought about cannonballs that he didn't even see Pyronaut coming towards him. As Pyronaut was just about to hit his target, Gale only used his foot to trip the monster, making him stagger forwards until he fell face-first towards the ground.

"Oh, my head..." Pyronaut moaned, obviously didn't see that coming. As how he was about to get back up to his feet, something stepped on his back, pinning him down. "W-What the?"

Gale was still in thought as he kept his foot on Pyronaut's back. "Maybe I should've been easier on those cannonballs. Good I did leave those guys behind. Or who knows what might've happened to my father's ship."

Pyronaut was confused. Why was Gale talking to himself? "Hey! I'm down here! Have you forgotten about me or something?"

"Hm?" Gale looked down at him. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't see you down there. Is there something you wanted to ask me?"

"Get off of me, you fool!" Pyronaut yelled at him.

"Well, why didn't you say something? I'll do just that." Gale said. "Right after I give you a little makeover." The blue hedgehog pulled out his canteen and popped open the lid.

"W-What are you doing?" Pyronaut demanded, not liking where this was going.

"Just so you know that this is the day that you'll always remember the name: Gale the Hedgehog." With that said, Gale poured the water from the canteen onto Pyronaut. The liquid splashed on the fire based creature, and which some strange effects were taking place on Pyronaut.

Pyronaut tried using his blades to get Gale off of him, but he saw that his blades were already melting from his arms. He then suddenly noticed that his entire body was starting to melt into a big puddle from his own flesh.

"N-No...this can't happen to me...I am suppose to serve Craven...and take...down this...cur..." Pyronaut muttered before his face started to turn to deform and melt within the ground until he was no more. Gale stepped away from the puddle to see it had sunken into the ground.

"Aye, now that's the strangest thing I've ever seen if I saw it." Gale thought with a shrug. "But then again, I've seen stranger stuff. Like the time I left my bottle of rum back on the ship when we landed here. "Just remembering it almost made him slap his head.

"Gale the Hedgehog..." A voice echoed, catching the blue hedgehog's attention.

"Who's there?" Gale asked, looking around the area. "Look, if your trying to throw me a surprise party, I'm afraid it won't work. The last time I got thrown into a surprise party...well, let's just say that it didn't turn out like anyone would expect."

The voice chuckled. "Your humor never changes, Gale."

"Wait..." Gale said, recognizing the voice. "Is that you, Craven?"

"It took you that long to figure me out?" Craven's voice questioned.

"Well, to be honest, I thought you sounded like my long lost cousin." Gale replied. "Wait..." Gale turned his head, remembering that he didn't really have a long lost cousin."

"Hm. Regardless of that, I take it your here to rescue Princess Aleena?" Craven's voice asked.

Gale shrugged. "I guess so. That, plus I came here to see if we can settle the issue with the Dead Stones."

"Ah yes, the Dead Stones. I almost forgot about them." Craven's voice replied, as if he remembered something.

"Look, why don't we just get this over with now. You release the Princess and we can settle our issue much easier. What do you say?" Gale suggested, waiting for answer.

"As much as I would like that, I think it would be better to see if you and your friends get passed my tests, first." Craven replied. "And only if you succeed in this, then you may grant your path to get to me."

"Sounds easy. I mean, I just already beat your lackey, and he didn't prove to be much of challenge at all. I guess it was bad luck, or something." Gale thought. "So, can I pass?"

"What? You mean to tell me you want passage just because you defeated someone I had little faith in?" Craven asked.

"Yeah. Pretty much." Gale nodded.

"Sure. But first, I would like to test you once more. Then, will I allow the pathway in front of you to be opened." Craven told him.

"Sounds fair. So, what do I do? Put on a funny hat or something? Have a drinking contest with another monster?" Gale asked.

Craven chuckled darkly. "I'm afraid it won't be that simple. For you see, I have the solution on how to scramble your mind."

Gale raised an eyebrow, wondering what the heck Craven was talking about. Suddenly, a flash of red magic blinded Gale for a moment, causing the blue hedgehog to cover his eyes. The light was there for a moment until it finally died down. Gale looked ahead to see what was in front of him. His eyes widened in surprise.

There was a monster. But this monster looked a lot like Capt. Swift: Gale's father, only with a few minor changes. His head was deformed like Craven's, his eyes were made up of green swampy water, his eyebrows were made up of dead earthworms, the nose was made out of a stone, and the chin was made out of dead bugs.

Gale was surprised and confused at the same time. "Is that you, Dad?"

The monstrous form of Capt. Swift stared at him. "What's wrong, son? You don't recognize your own father?" He asked with a weird monster like growl.

Gale had to remember that this was the power of the Black Mist Crew. Craven was trying to get Gale to give in to Craven's will and surrender, trying to make him not fight his 'father'. "Sorry pops, but I'm not going to be tricked that easily."

"Come on, son. There is no need to fight me, is there?" He asked. "What will fighting your own father prove? That you are a better pirate than I am? To reclaim my former glory all as your own?"

Gale seemed somewhat intimidated by his words. "I...No, I'm not believing you."

"But Gale, there is no point in continuing on. Revenge obviously won't get you anywhere, and your own selfish pride will only get in the way. Why don't you just give it all up?"

Gale could instantly tell that those are words that his real father would never tell him. Craven obviously knew that he was testing him. So there had to been a way to persuade this fake Capt. Swift without actually trying to fight him. "Listen, I don't thinking you heard me the first time. I'm not going to fight you and because of that, there isn't going to be anything you say that will change my mind."

The monstrous form of Capt. Swift stared at him for a long moment. "Then tell me, son. Why do you come here?"

"I come here...because I want to avenge you. I want to learn the secrets of the Dead Stone and hopefully get back at King Azreal for killing you seven years ago. I'm going to be the greatest pirate that ever sailed the seas, and with me and my crew at sea, nothing will be able to stop us." Gale told him.

The montrous form of Capt. Swift took in Gale's words, thinking about what he said for a long moment. When he came up with a reply, he spoke and somewhat smiled crookedly. "Well done, son. Your passion drives you towards your goal. And as long as you believe in yourself and your crew, then there is nothing that you can't do."

Before Gale could say anything back, a bright flash of red blinded Gale again as the monstrous form of Capt. Swift started to melt into rubble. When the light finally died down, so did Capt. Swift's monstrous body.

When he was gone, Gale sighed in relief, knowing that part was finally out of the way. In front of him, the stone door in front of him opened, revealing it to be a pathway towards his destination.

"Well, that was an ugly sight. Hopefully, I don't run into something like that again. But then again, knowing me, I've always seen a lot of strange stuff. Kinda like that one time when one of my dad's crew mates looked like an alien." Gale shrugged, as he continued forward towards his destination.

* * *

**Fighting isn't always the way to go where you want to go, it comes from your desire and passion. Will Gale be able to confront Craven? Can our heroes be able to pass their other tests and save Priness Aleena? And what do the other tests await for Gale's crew mates? Find out on the next Gale the Hedgehog: Adventures of the Dead Sea!**

**Please, read and review.**


	8. Proving Within, Part 2

******GALE THE HEDGEHOG: ADVENTURES OF THE DEAD SEA**

Pokemon © Nintendo

Chapter Six: Proving Within, Part 2

The scene cuts to Riolu. Like Gale and the others, he had taken a different path that would lead him to an unknown destination. Or as what Gale said, it was suppose to be a trial that Craven had set up for our heroes. Riolu's path lead him to a room that was sized like a circle, with two lit torches hanging on the wall in opposite directions. Riolu saw that there was an extra pathway in front of him, but something wasn't right. To him, it felt like there was a strange prescense lurking in this room.

"I guess this is suppose to be where somebody is suppose to jump at my back when I at least expect it." Riolu said to himself.

Riolu looked around the room to see his new surroundings looked big. At least, that's what first impressions are. Riolu thought that the room seemed kind of small, and would seem like a trap. Something obvious. But then again, this is Craven that he was thinking about. He obviously wouldn't come up with the oldest trick in the book to use against Riolu. Besides, it wouldn't be really much of a test anyway. He noticed that there was also no pathway in front of him.

"This must be a dead end." Riolu thought to himself. "I better go back the way I came and join up with Gale. It would take longer, but at least it will be better than staying here."

Before he could leave, however, the ground beneath him started to spur. Several weird creatures started to pop out of the ground as if they were rising from the dead. Riolu got a good look at these strange figures. The first one was a tall white monster warrior. It had green eyes glowing eyes, red swirly lines across it's torso, a red armored samurai helmet, red armor across it's chest, red sharp claws along with red armored wrists, red metal boots, and a red cape that had the symbol of a Dead Stone.

The second figure was also a monster warrior, only it was green. It's head had fin-like features on the side with red glowing eyes. The creature's attire consisted of metal bands that were attached to it's wrists and shins, along with gold metallic armor all over it's upper body. It wore good metallic boots. It's shield on it's back was it's only defense, but wielded no other weapon than that.

And the third figure was a slightly smaller than the other two creatures. It's body was thin, and it had long jet black hair. This was obviously a female creature. She possessed long black claws from her fingers, glowing purple eyes, red ink painted across her arms, She wore tattered torn slacks, green tattered shoes. And her attire consisted of light blue metallic armor on her body, which seemed to be very light armor, so it wasn't heavy at all.

Riolu noticed the three new creatures that had jumped in front of him. "I'm guessing these guys are not really party guests. That, or I guess this is suppose to be a welcome party."

"You almost seem to have the same sense of humor as Gale." The red armored monster said.

Riolu raised an eyebrow when he mentioned Gale. "How do you know about him?"

"Through our master: Craven." The gold armored monster answered. "And you must be his friend: Riolu."

"No surprises there." Riolu muttered to himself. "What about you? What are you suppose to be?"

"We had been revived thanks to the power of Dead Stone by Craven." The female replied with an aquatic voice. "He had detailed us about your trial."

"You must defeat all three of us in order to pass your trial." The red armored monster explained.

"And just to show you we have honor, we shall give out our names." The gold armored monster said. "I am Torus."

"My name is Nurdas." The red armored replied.

"And I am Trasika." The female bowed slightly.

"Now that we have given our names, it is time for you to face us!" Nurdas told him.

Riolu watched as the three slowly started surround him in a circle. The dog-like creature had to keep his guard up at all times if he wanted to survive this. Nurdas was in front of him, Torus was at the side and Trasika was nearing behind him, almost as if she was planning a sneak attack. Riolu thought they would probably triple team him, and knowing Craven's mind, he would most certainly plan that.

Torus quickly pulled out his shield and threw it at Riolu when he wasn't looking. Riolu acted on instinct as he quickly jumped in the air with swift movement, just barely avoiding the shield, as the spinning projectile flew back towards Torus as he caught it with one hand, while Riolu landed on back on the ground.

Nurdas charged at him head-on as he threw his fist at Riolu's head. Riolu ducked underneath it as he countered with a kick to Nurdas' stomach, sending him back a step. Nurdas' claws extracted to a longer height as he swinged it at Riolu. Riolu quickly jumped backwards as the claws missed their target. However, Trasika was in close range from behind Riolu as she spin-kicked Riolu in the back of the head, sending him flying forwards towards the the ground.

Riolu groaned a little as he got back to his feet. He looked around at three monsters. "Don't you think three on one is a little unfair?"

"It is what you must overcome." Torus said. "Defeating all three of us is the only you can pass you trial."

Riolu didn't like this at first, but he decided to just play along and go through with this. He turned around and got into stance as he created a dark orb in his hand.

"Shadow Ball!" Riolu shouted as he sent the dark orb flying towards Trasika. Seeing the dark orb, Trasika jumped out of the way as the Shadow Ball passed right by her. That's when Riolu quickly charged at Trasika and slammed his aura fist into Trasika's stomach, sending her hovering backwards towards the wall, sending her crashing her back against the hard rubble.

Torus pulled out his shield and threw it towards Riolu again. Once again, Riolu turned at the right time and created another Shadow Ball to counter it by throwing it at Torus' shield. The two attacks connected, however, it ended as the shield went flying back to it's owner: Torus. Torus charged after Riolu with his fist, however, Riolu noticed this as he ducked underneath the blow and punched him, sending him backwards a step. Riolu went for another punch, but Torus caught the arm and sent him flying towards the wall.

Riolu saw what he was heading towards, so he used his feet in the wall's direction as he springed off the wall and make himself fly back towards Torus at high speed, all while charging up his Shadow Ball.

Torus was in disbelief at what he saw. "What? How did...?

"Didn't expect that, did you?" Riolu asked. "I bet you didn't expect this, as well!"

Torus saw that Riolu was going to collide with him with his Shadow Ball at close range. Thinking quickly, Torus pulled out his shield in order to defend himself from the attack. His face conveyed of some doubt, for unknown reasons. Riolu collided with Torus' shield, as the energy exploded on contact. The shield cracked itself for a second before exploding into little pieces, as both Riolu and Torus went flying backwards from the explosion, with both of them gaining back their ground.

"Damn! And I thought that would take him down." Riolu thought to himself.

Torus glared at Riolu, almost surprised that someone like Riolu almost defeated him. What's worse is now that he had lost his shield. "You will regret breaking my shield!"

"That's what you think, Torus!" Riolu replied back as he charged at Torus again. "I'm only just beginning!"

Torus growled as Riolu ran at him with his aura fist again. Torus defended himself as Riolu's fist attacked his stomach. Torus retaliated by jabbing Riolu right back with his own fist, but Riolu was able to dodge to the side before getting hit. Riolu quickly spinned his foot to try and sweep Torus off his feet, but Torus jumped, despite all the armor he was wearing. Torus used his fist again to swing it at Riolu's face, but Riolu quickly dodged underneath the blow and return it by thrusting his palms at Torus' armored chest. But Torus was able to grab both of his arms and swing him around in a circle. As this was going on, Riolu thought he was going to get sick from all of this, but he quickly had an idea as he was able to find the strength by swinging himself below Torus and flip him inside out onto his back.

Riolu landed himself upright as he saw the opportunity to end this fight. He charged up another Shadow Ball in his hands as Torus got himself to his feet. When he came to his senses, he turned around and saw that Riolu had charged up a larger Shadow Ball than ever, much to the surprise of Torus.

"This can't be happening!" Torus shouted in disbelief.

"Sure it can, Torus! Let's see you handle this!" Riolu said back, as he fired the Shadow Ball at Torus. Before Torus could react, the Shadow Ball made contact with Torus' chest armor. The force of the attack was more than enough to break Torus' armor and make him yell out in agony as the dark energy took it's toll on him. Torus was able to look back at Riolu for a moment longer before falling back to his death.

"You have defeated the mighty Torus. But just know that you still have two more monsters to defeat before passing your trial..." Torus said in a voice of agony. "And I shall...be avenged..."

Torus let out on more groan of agony before falling face-first towards the ground where he melted back into the ground until the last of his remains were gone.

"Well...that can't be very good for business." Riolu said to himself, after seeing the dead carcass of Torus melting like that.

"Now that you have taken out Torus, it is time for us to take you on!" Nurdas shouted at him.

"But why didn't you do that when I was taking on Torus?" Riolu asked.

"Torus always claimed honor in himself and always preferred to take on his opponent in a one on one duel." Trasika answered. "But now that he is gone, we can finish the job in what he failed to do!"

Riolu meant that this battle wasn't going to be as flowing as his battle with Torus. Nurdas and Trasika each covered an opposite side from each other so that they could surround Riolu. The dog-like creature looked in each direction, wondering if he should attack first or wait for one of them to attack him.

That desicion was soon made as Nurdas was the first one to attack Riolu head-on. Riolu saw this coming, as he quickly thrusted his palm into Nurdas' stomach, making him stagger backwards a couple of steps. Trasika went to attack him next as she used her claws to swipe at Riolu, but Riolu quickly ducked underneath it and used an aura punch to send her backwards as well. But she quickly regained her footing and used her knee to attack Riolu's stomach, making him grasp it in pain as Nurdas created a jolt of green energy in his hand, as he dashed towards Riolu and smashed him in the face, making him fall backwards on his back.

Riolu wiped a little bit of blood of his face before getting back to his feet a little slowly. "At this rate, taking them on one at a time isn't really going to help me anymore. If only there was a way to take them both out at once..."

Thinking about that now wasn't going to help him as Trasika went for the attack. Riolu fought her off as they both reversed each other's punches. Trasika went for a kick, but Riolu side-stepped to avoid it as he used an aura punch to Trasika's side, making her stagger a bit but still staying on her feet. Trasika created dose of bright red energy in her hands and went for a punch to Riolu's face. Not wanting to fall for it a second time, Riolu ducked underneath the punch as Trasika missed her target as he followed it up with a kick to her back, sending her stumbling towards a wall.

When she was out of the way, Riolu focused his attention on Nurdas. The red-armored monster quickly jabbed Riolu in the stomach, making Riolu grasp it in pain. Nurdas followed it up by a spin kick to Riolu's back, sending Riolu falling towards the ground. Riolu spinned around to see that Nurdas was about to smash his foot into him, so he quickly rolled out of the way as Nurdas made impact on the ground. Riolu springed back to his feet and charged up his Shadow Ball again while Nurdas was distracted.

As Riolu was charging up energy, he heard someting from behind him. Trasika was going to attack him from behind again, but Riolu was ready this time, as he simple side-stepped and used his foot to trip Trasika, which made her stumble and trip all the way towards Nurdas, making her crash into him, and making them both fall towards the ground.

Riolu smiled playfully. "I figured that kinda trick would work for me sooner or later. I just didn't expect it to work in a place like this."

The two monsters got back managed to get back to their feet. But something interesting happened when Nurdas shoved her back, much to Trasika's surprise.

"What was that for?" Trasika asked angrily.

"You knocked me down!" Nurdas shouted at her.

"Knocked you down? I was tripped over by that fool!" Trasika argued.

"Then maybe you should've watched where you were attacking before you made a move!" Nurdas told her.

Trasika shoved Nurdas back a step in anger. "Don't tell me how to fight! I've always known to fight by my own occord!"

"It's for your own good!" Nurdas shouted. "You act so rassive and don't always think before you act!"

"How dare you insult me!" Trasika narrowed her eyes at him. "You will pay for that!"

Riolu watched as the two started to fight each other. Needless to say, things between these two weren't going as well as they had planned. Torus didn't seem to have any problems, even if he was fighting by himself. These two didn't seem to have any connection with each other. Well, at least for a while after Torus was gone. Maybe it was because they had a lot of loyalty towards him. They did say that Torus always wanted to fight his enemy one on one, so maybe that was why they never wanted to get involved when Torus was in a fight.

Nurdas and Trasika's fight was a little more aggressive than usual, as Nurdas' armor started to crack thanks to Trasika's claws. And even Trasika's armor was already starting to take some damage thanks to Nurdas' fighting abilities. At first, Riolu thought he should just let them take each other out, but he decided not to wait and decided to end it here and now.

Trasika and Nurdas stared down each other in hatred, eyes glowing brightly as they were ready to go at it again, despite the damage they have done to each other.

"You really have a lot of nerve blaming something on me, just because I accidentally tripped." Trasika said to Nurdas.

"That's not my problem." Nurdas replied. "Unlike you, I know what I am doing because I always look before I attack."

Trasika growled angrily at him. "How dare you insult my intelligence! Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Your intelligence isn't the problem! It's how your mind works!" Nurdas said.

"So you are saying I'm stupid! Perhaps you should be careful, or I will make you sure yoy go back into the grave you came from!"

"If that is the case, then I'm taking you down with me!" Nurdas told her.

"Hey!"

Nurdas and Trasika stopped arguing for a moment and turned to see Riolu, whom had two fully charged Shadow Balls in each hand. He then combined the two Shadow Balls together, forming up one large energy ball that was almost twice the size as Nurdas and Trasika.

"What the?" Nurdas said in shock. "How did he do that?"

"Idiot! Don't you know? He must've charged up his energy attack while we were arguing!" Trasika told him.

"Why didn't you warn me about this?" He asked.

"Because you wouldn't stop arguing with me!" Trasika yelled at him.

"Uh..." This time, Nurdas was out of words to say. He looked over at Riolu, whom currently had a smirk on his face.

"How about I end your bickering right now? Shadow Ball!" Riolu shouted as he threw the large Shadow Ball at Nurdas and Trasika.

The two were about to move, but were too late as the Shadow Ball had hit them both at the same time, seeing as how they were both close together. Both of them yelled out in agony before exploding back into skeleton bones. The bones soon melted away until they were out of sight.

Riolu sighed in relief, now that he had finished off the last two monsters. "And here I thought Vanilla's anger towards Gale was bad." Suddenly, his body started to flash brightly. "What the...? What is this? Why is my body glowing...?"

Another flash of light shined as a passageway opened in front of him, revealing to an unknown destination. Riolu looked on, as the glowing around his body disappeared.

"What just happened?" Riolu asked himself. "Just now, for a moment, I felt my energy getting stronger than ever before. Maybe..." Riolu had a thought in his mind, but wasn't sure what it was. "I'll think about it later. Right now, I need to reunite with Gale and the others." He said, as he took off in the unknown passage where he disappeared into darkness.

* * *

**True abilities can only be unlocked from deep within. What was the glowing light that had surrounded Riolu? Is it a sign of a curse? Or will it help Riolu when the time is right? Find out on the next Gale the Hedgehog: Adventures of the Dead Sea!**

**Please, read and review.**


	9. Proving Within, Part 3

******GALE THE HEDGEHOG: ADVENTURES OF THE DEAD SEA**

Characters © Respective Owners

Chapter Eight: Proving Within, Part 3

The scene shifts to Zed, as we see the crimson chameleon making his way through the tunnels of the cave in which Craven's hideout was at. His sole intent was to find Princess Aleena and save her from this strange group of the Black Mist Crew. Even though he had to sail with Gale's crew, it was paying off so far. With each step he took, Zed was determined to find the princess of South Island.

"I still don't know why this Black Mist Crew took Princess Aleena." Zed thought to himself. "But if I'm able to find Craven, maybe he can tell me about the reason in more detail."

That's what he thought, anyway. But even if that's what he wanted to do, he would have to find Princess Aleena first. He was just hoping that this was the way that would lead him to Princess Aleena. As he continued forward, he noticed something up ahead that caught his interest. Zed picked up his pace and headed towards it as fast as he could. He could see that the silhouette he saw ahead was starting to fade away, but despite that, Zed continued forwards to see what he had saw. By the time he almost made it, the silhouette he saw with his eyes was gone.

"What the? It...it vanished!" Zed realized as he made it to where he saw the silhouette was standing. "I could've sworn I saw someone was here." The red chameleon looked around at his surroundings to make sure he wasn't seeing things. From the looks of it, he couldn't see anything in this area that was suspicious.

"Zed...? Is that you?"

Zed turned to see where the voice came from. His eyes widened in surprise. "Princess Aleena?"

There was Aleena standing there a few feet away from Zed. "What are you doing here in this cave?"

"What am I doing? What about you?" Zed asked. "Weren't you suppose to be captured by the Black Mist Crew?"

"Those guys?" Aleena remarked. "I escaped their trap before they even noticed. It just goes to show them how pitiful their defenses are."

That statement she made seemed suspicious to Zed. Was it really that easy for her to escape on her own? "Are you sure your not hurt?"

"Nope." Aleena shook her head in reply. "Not a bump or a scratch on me. Why do you ask?"

"As your personal guard, I'm suppose to know whether or not you are hurt." Zed answered.

"That's funny." Aleena snickered.

"What do you mean by that?" Zed questioned.

"It's just that...all this time, you were such a fool for not noticing the difference." Aleena replied unusually, with a dark smirk on her face.

By her answer alone, Zed realized that something wasn't right. "Princess Aleena...no, that can't be right. Your not really her, aren't you?"

"How very perceptive of you to figure it out so quickly." An aquatic voice echoed.

"Huh? Who's there?" Zed demanded, as he unsheathed his sword.

For a moment, he couldn't find anything that made the voice. He then turned to Aleena, where he saw something new next to her. It was a new figure, which turned out to be a black chameleon. However, this chameleon resembled Zed in almost every way. He was wearing the same attire, the same weapon, but the only thing that was different was his voice.

"What the?" Zed's eyes widened in shock. "That's...me!"

"Surprised?" The Zed look-alike asked with a smirk. "I was hoping that you would realize your mistake in knowing what was real and what's not."

"Huh?" Zed raised an eyebrow. "So you're saying that Princess Aleena...is a fake?"

The Zed look-alike snapped his fingers, making 'Aleena' melt into the ground until she was no more. "If you are wondering about where the real Princess Aleena is hiding, she's being kept in her cell, safe and sound."

Zed almost felt relieved to hear that. Now Princess Aleena wasn't in any danger. For now, anyway. "Are you suppose to be a part of the Black Mist Crew?"

"If you must know, then yes. My name is Clone." The chameleon introduced himself. "And you must be one of Gale's friends."

"We're not exactly friends, mind you." Zed scoffed. "But that's beside the point. The thing I want to know is that are you suppose to be one of these tests that Craven set up?"

"You catch on pretty quickly." Clone said, amused. "Maybe you aren't as rock stupid as I pictured you the first time."

"I'm a lot smarter than you think." Zed replied, as he pointed his blade at him.

"Well then, perhaps we should put you smarts to the test and see if your words match up to your fighting skills." Clone said, as he pulled out an exact duplicate of Zed's sword. "At your ready."

"With pleasure." Zed replied, as he charged at Clone.

Clone saw Zed charging at him with his weapon as he held up his sword in defense. Zed's sword clashed with Clone's, trying to break through his defense. Clone used his foot by shoving Zed backwards, making the red chameleon slide across the ground. Zed managed to stop himself as Clone took his chance. However, Zed managed to see this coming as he ducked underneath the swinging blade and went for a strike of his own. Clone's eyes noticed this as he slipped to the side and striked at the back of Zed, sending him stumbling a couple of steps before falling towards the ground.

Zed was able to get back to his feet as he turned around and charged at Clone again. Clone charged at Zed this time as he rolled underneath the red chameleon's blade, much to Zed's surprise. Clone springed at Zed, making a roundhouse kick to the back of Zed's head, knocking him down the ground again.

Zed rolled on his back as he felt the effects from that kick moments ago. The moment he did this, though, he saw Clone swinging his sword down at him. Thinking quickly, Zed used his sword to stop the blade in time. Clone tried to push down, but Zed was stronger as he was able to spring back to his feet and toss Clone's arm, making Clone flip upside-down and land hard on his back.

"You should've been smart enough to see that coming." Zed remarked with a smirk. "Otherwise, your just another amateur who can't learn from his mistakes."

Clone slowly made it back to his feet after wearing off the pain he had received. "Watch who you call an amateur. Otherwise, you just might regret it."

"And what makes you think I'm intimidated by your words?" Zed questioned, sounding a little amused. "Just because you impersonate me, doesn't guarantee that you can defeat me."

Clone chuckled at this. "Then perhaps I should use that to my advantage."

Zed was confused by this. Clone morphed himself into a whole new being. Actually, it was something that took Zed by surprise. The new figure he was seeing was Princess Aleena...with the exception that her fur was also black, and she wasn't wielding any weapon this time.

"How do I look?" Aleena, or rather Clone asked. "I may not exactly have the physique, but this body will prove quite nicely, if you know what I mean."

"W-What in the...?" Zed was obviously baffled by this. "How did you do that?"

"My name isn't Clone for nothing." Clone retorted with a smirk. "I can clone myself into anybody I want. Of course, this isn't the only thing I can do."

"What do you mean by that?" Zed questioned with his eyes narrowed.

"I'd rather not say. If you want to know though, your going to have to defeat me, first." Clone told him.

Zed was worried for a moment, seeing Aleena's body being used against him, but he then started smile for some reason. "That won't be a problem at all. You don't even have a weapon to use against my sword. Which gains me the advantage."

Clone just shrugged it off. "I don't need a weapon to help me. You wanna know why? Perhaps I should show you why!"

Without a moment to waste, Clone sprinted into action. Zed prepared to swing his sword at her, but before he could do that, the Aleena clone leaped a few feet in the air and kicked Zed with both of it's feet, making the red chameleon fly backwards and landing on the ground. His sword also fell out of his hand when he fell towards the ground.

Zed got back to his feet and saw that his sword was laying a few feet to where he was standing. He went over to pick up his sword, but the Aleena clone kicked the sword out of the way, sending it towards the wall, much to Zed's dismay.

"I want to see if you can fight without having to use a weapon." Clone told him. "Besides, you fighting with that sword was just boring to me."

At first, Zed seemed reluctant, but decided to follow along anyway. "All right. If that's how you want it, then I'll show you that I can fight without my sword."

Without hesitating, Zed swinged his fist at Aleena's clone. The Aleena clone, or rather Clone, swiftly ducked underneath it and punched him in the gut, making Zed grasp it in pain. Clone sweeped Zed from his feet, making Zed drop on his back. Zed looked below as he kicked Clone in the shins, which made him flinch for a moment. Zed springed back up and went for a punch to Clone's shoulder. However, Clone caught Zed's wrist and kicked him in the chest before shoving him away. Zed managed to stop himself as Clone went for a punch to his face. The red chameleon jumped downwards and kicked Clone in the legs, making the morphing chameleon drop face-first towards the ground.

Clone slowly got back to his feet as Zed waited for him to turn around. Once he was facing him, Zed used his knee to attack Clone. But unexpectedly, Clone quickly grabbed his knee and flipped him upside down, which would take Zed off guard. However, Zed leveraged his legs and quickly did a swift kick to Clone's stomach, sending him flying backwards. Clone used his feet to skid himself to a halt before going back any further. Zed saw this as his chance as he rushed forward and took him down with a swift kick in the head, knocking Clone to the ground.

Clone slowly back to his feet, as Zed went for another punch. Clone saw this and quickly ducked underneath it, and used his knee to hit him in the gut, taking him off guard. Clone did an uppercut to his lower head, taking him off his feet. However, Zed quickly used his arms and flip himself up to his feet and making another spin kick to Clone's face. The shot connected, and Clone slowly fell on his back, making an impact on the ground.

"Not so tough now, are you?" Zed asked, with a small grin on his face.

Clone spat some blood from his mouth and smirked back at Zed. "Do you realize what you've done?"

"Defeated someone that wasn't as tough as they looked?" Zed asked amusingly.

"No." Clone shook his head. "You do realize that you are fighting your own princess, right?"

"You mean the clone version of herself?" Zed retorted.

"You still don't get it." Clone shook his head. "While you may be fighting a clone of her, there's also something that you forgot while you were fighting me."

"Really? And that's that?" Zed questioned.

"As I am an Aleena clone, every shot that you took at me throughout our fight, it also affects her too." Clone told him.

"Huh?" Zed's mood started to change dramatically. "You mean..."

"Yes." Clone nodded. "You have not only been fighting me, you have also been fighting the real Princess Aleena all along!"

Zed's eyes flashed in horror. The thought of now hurting Aleena might've been too much for him to hear. If he had been looking at a dark mirror, it probably was the image of Aleena getting hurt right in front of him. The pain she had taken was probably took much for her to take at this point. What would Aleena's condition be? Would she still be alive? Or was she severely hurt? The thoughts that were in his head seemed to much to bare. He was suppose to be her royal guard. Instead, he could end up possibly hurting her greatly.

"W-What have I done...?" Zed asked shakily. "Princess Aleena...have I really hurt her?"

Clone could see that Zed was already at a loss. While Zed's guard was down, Clone spin-kicked the red chameleon in the face, taking him down. Zed groaned as he made it to his knees, but Clone just kicked him in the side, adding more damage to Zed. The red chameleon dropped to the ground as he tried to roll away for him to breath, but Clone just kicked him in the back to add more insult to injury.

"Look at you." Clone said, just taunting Zed. "You had no idea that Aleena's life was at stake, and you were risking it just to defeat me. Why don't you get back to your feet and fight?"

Zed had no answer, as he was still trying to recover himself. Clone wasn't impressed in the slightest as he did another hard kick to the side of Zed's stomach, making him cough out some blood from his mouth. He was really hurt now. The pain was now almost too much for him to handle.

_"Princess Aleena..." _Zed murmured slowly.

_"Come on, Zed. Get back up!"_

Zed wasn't sure where that voice came from. One thing for sure though was that the voice didn't belong to Clone. _"Huh? Who's there?"_

_"You really can't tell, can you? Does the term not wanting to be a princess mean anything to you?"_

That's when he recognized who's voice it came from. _"Princess Aleena...?"_

_"Took you long enough to figure that out." _Aleena's voice replied sarcastically. _"You need to get back up and defeat that freak."_

_"But Aleena, what about you? You're not hurt, are you?" _Zed asked.

_"Do I sound like I'm hurt? That guy is just spouting out lies to make you lose your spirit to fight." _Aleena's voice told him.

_"Are you sure about that?" _Zed asked curiously.

_"Trust me, I'm fine. Don't let his words get to you. You can win this fight. Just get yourself up and defeat him. I still have faith in you."_

Zed had heard the last words she had spoken. Those words had seemed to affected Zed in some way as he looked at the ground, only to see that his sword was nearby.

"It looks like you've already made your decision." Clone said, looking down at Zed who could barely move from his eyes. "You were too weak, anyways." He turned around and began to walk away. That was, until something from behind grabbed his arm, catching Clone's attention.

Zed had managed to grab his arm, despite being on the ground. "I'm not...done yet."

Clone could only be amused by this. "You have no idea what your getting yourself into, do you? Do you actually wish to fight me, despite harming Princess Aleena? You do know that her life would still be at stake, right?"

"Are you sure about that?" Zed asked.

"What do you mean?" Clone questioned.

"I'm saying that...Princess Aleena's life isn't in any danger. But someone else is. You want to know who that it is?" Zed asked, tempting Clone.

"W...W...Who?" Clone asked, a little shaken up.

"The answer is pretty obvious." Zed grinned. "It's you."

Clone's eyes flashed brightly as Zed grabbed the hilt of his sword, jumped to his feet, and slammed the sharp end through his body, impaling him on the other side. Both of them stayed in silence, it was as if time itself had frozen over.

"W-What...h-have you...done?" Clone asked weakly. "Did...you forget about...the life of your princess...?"

Zed only smirked. "I had to admit, you had me fooled. I was certain to believe that if had the advantage in our fight, Princess Aleena would get hurt herself. I had thought that, until a little voice in my head spoke to me."

"Voice...?" Clone whispered out in surprise.

"Let's just say that the voice told me that Princess Aleena would be fine, and you were only spewing out lies, forcing me to believe what you told me." Zed answered.

"Heh..." Clone grinned slowly. "Do you honestly...trust this so-called voice...? You could've been hearing things for all I know..."

"Trust me, I could hear it loud and clear. Princess Aleena will be just fine once I get her out of here. And as for you...well, you don't look exactly in the best of shape yourself."

Clone coughed, trying to speak. "Then, I guess...you got me. I didn't think...anyone could hear voices inside their head. Let alone believe it."

Zed could clearly see the green blood pouring out of Clone's body. "I guess I should put you out of your misery."

With a swift movement, Zed spinned Clone around and kicked him straight in the gut, sending Clone flying at high speed until he crashed into a wall with a hard impact. Clone dropped towards the ground, obviously dead by now. His body soon started to melt as it started to bury itself in the ground. Zed watched this until it was completely out of sight.

"OK...I don't want to see something like that happen again." Zed said, admitting that was pretty gross. "Then again, I don't want to see this place ever again. I better find Princess Aleena fast and get her out of this place. And maybe I'll find Craven, too. If I do...then he'll pay for kidnapping Princess Aleena. " He said, as he saw the pathway in front of him opening. He probably thought that was the way to go, so he went ahead towards the hidden darkness until he disappeared.

* * *

**Having something close to you is very important, no matter what the risk will be to reach it. Will Zed be able to save Aleena from the Black Mist Crew? Does Craven have something sinister planned for him? And will Vanilla be able to pass her trial and reunite with the others? Find out on the next Gale the Hedgehog: Adventures of the Dead Sea!**

**Please, read and review.**


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